The celestial worlds discover'd: or, conjectures concerning the inhabitants, plants and productions of the worlds in the planets

t

fib-

l

T H E

Geleftial Worldsi

DISCOVER’D;

O R,

;":V

CONJECTURES

£

Concerning the

INHABITANTS,

Plants and Productions

of THE

W orlds in the Planets.

Written in Latin by

CHRISTIANAS HUYGENS ,

And infcrib’d to bis Brother

CONSTANTINE HUTGENSl

*' <•

Late Secretary to his Majefty King William .
The Second Edition 5 CorreBed and Enlarged. !

LONDON:

Printed for James Knapton, at the Crown in
St. Pauls Church-Yard. Mdccxxii.

y

r

):

I

I

i

.)

/

TO THE

READER.

HIS Book was juft finifhed.

JL and defigned for the Prefs,
when the Author, to the great !ofs
of the Learned World, was feized
by a Difeafe that brought him to his
Death. However he took care in
hislaft Will of its Publication, defi¬
ring his Brother, to whom it was
writ, to take that T rouble upon him.
But he was fo taken up with Bufinefs
and Removals, (as being Secretary in
Holland to the King of Great Britain')
that he could find no time for it till a
I ear after the Death of the Author :
When it fo fell out, that the Printers
being fomewhat tardy, and this Gen-
tleman dying, the Book was left with¬
out either Father or Guardian. Yet it

A 2

now

IV

To the Reader.

now ventures into the Publick, in the
fame Method that it was writ by
the Author, and with the fame In-
fcription to his Brother, tho’ dead ;
in confidence that this laft Piece of
his will meet with as kind a Recep¬
tion from the World as all the other
Works of that Author have. ’Tis
true there are not every where Ma¬
thematical Demonftrations •, but
where they are wanting, you have
probable and ingenious Conjectures,
which is the molt that can be reafo-
nabiy expeCted in fuch matters.
What belongs to, or has any thing
to do with Aftronomy, you will fee
demonftrated, and the reft ingeni-
oufly and fhrewdly guefs’d at, from
the Affinity and Relation of the
heavenly Bodies to the Earth. For
your farther Satisfaction read on,
and farewel.

THE

V

-

— .

THE

PUBLISHER

TO THE

READER.

I Doubt not lilt 1 (hall incur the Cen¬
tres of learned Men for gutting
this Book into Englilh* becaufe 5
thef ll fay 5 it renders Philofophy cheap
and vulgar , and , which is worfe^fur-
nifhes a fort of injudicious People with
a fmattering of Notions , which Ic¬
ing not able to make a proper ufe of
they pervert to the Injury of Religion
and Science . I confefs the Allegati¬
on is too true : but after Bifhop Wil¬
kins, Dr. Burnet* Mr. Whifton and
others y to fay nothing of the ancient
Philofophers, who wrote in their own

A $ Tongues

vi The Publifher’s Preface*,

Tongues • I fay, after thefe great Au¬
thors have treated on as learned and
abflrufe Subjects in the fame Language,
1 hope their Example will he allowed
a fufficient excufe for printing this
Book in Englifh*

Concerning this Edition I can fay 5
that I have taken care to have the
Cutts exactly done , and have placed
each Figure at the Page of the Book
that refers to it, which 1 take to he
more convenient to the Reader than
putting them all at the End .

I have keen careful to procure the
heft Paper • that I might in fome
meafure come up to the Beauty of the
Latin Edition, though this hear hut
half the Price of it .

cAnd I hope the Tranflator has
exprejfed the Authors Senfe aright i
and has not committed Faults he~
yond what an ingenuous Reader can
pardon *

t

NEW

CONJECTURES

Concerning the

Planetary Worlds,,

THEIR

INHABITANTS

AND

PRODUCTIONS.

Written by Christianus Huy¬
gens, and infcribed to his Brother
Constantine Huygens.

BOOK the Firft.

A Man that is of Copernicus’s
Opinion, that this Earth of
ours is a Planet, carry’d
round and enlighten’d by
the Sun, like the reft of the Planets,
cannot but fometimes think, that it’s

A 4 not

Book i.

a Conjectures concerning

Book i. not improbable that the reft of the
Planets have their Drefs and Fur¬
niture, and perhaps their Inhabitants
too as well as* this Earth of ours:
Efpecially if he confiders the later
Difcoveries made in the Heavens
fince Copernicus* s time, viz . the
Attendants of Jupiter and Saturn ,
and the champaign and hilly Coun¬
tries in the Moon, which are a ftrong
Argument of a Relation and Kin
between our Earth and them, as
well as a Proof of the Truth of that
Syftem. This has often been our
Talk, I remember, good Brother^
over a large Telefcope, when We
have been viewing thofe Bodies, a
Study that your continual Bufinefs
and Abfence have interrupted for
many Years. But we were always
apt to conclude, that ' twas in vain
to enquire after what Nature is doing
there, feeing there was no likelihood
of ever coming to any Certainty of
the Enquiry. Nor could I ever find
that any Philofophers, either antient
or modern, have attempted any thing
upon this Subjeft. At the very Birth

of

the Planetary Worlds.

of Aftronomy, when the Earth wasBookx*
firft afferted to be Spherical, and to '
befurrounded with Air, even then ‘lyTa’W
there were fome Men fo bold as to talk’d of
affirm, there were an innumerable
Company of Worlds in the Stars .the pU-
But later Authors, fuch as Cardinal^5’ hut
Cufanus , Brmus, Kfplev, (and if we farther,
may believe him, Tycho was of that
opinion too) have furnifhed the Pla¬
nets with Inhabitants. Nay, Cttfa-
nus and Brunus have allowed the
Sun and fixed Stars theirs too* But
this was the utmoft of their Boldnefs ;
nor has the ingenious French Author
of the Dialogues about the Plurality
of Worlds carried this Matter any
farther. Only fome of them have
coined fome Stories of the Men in
the Moon, juft as probable as Luci¬
an's true Hiftory ; among which X
muft count Kypler' s, which he has di¬
verted us with in his Aftronomicai
Dream. But a while ago thinking
fomewhat ferioufly of this matter
(not that I count my felf quicker-
lighted than thofe great Men, but
that I had the Happinefs to live after

mod

__ .

0

4 conjectures concerning

Booki.moft of them) the Enquiry appear**
not fo impracticable,* nor the
Way fo ftopt up with Difficulties,
but that there was very good room
left for probable Conjectures. As
they came into my Head, I put them
down into common Places, and
fhall now try to digeft them into
fome Method for your better Con¬
ception of them, and add fomewhat
of the Sun and fix’d Stars, and the
Extent of that Univerfe of which
our Earth is but an inconfiderable
Point. I know you have fuch an
Efteern and Reverence for any thing
that belongs to the Heavens, that I
perfwade my felf you will read what
I have written with fome Pleafure :
I’m fure I writ it with a great deal ;
but as often before, fo now, I find the
Saying of Jrchytas true, even to the
Letter, That the? a Man were admit¬
ted into Heaven to view the wonder -
ful Fabrick of the World , and the
Beauty of the Stars$ yet what would
otherwise be Rapture and Extafe ,
would be but a melancholy Amazement
if he had not a Friend to communi¬
cate

the Planetary Worlds . f

/V £0. I could wifh indeed thatBooki-
all the World might not be my
Judges, but that I might chufe my
Readers, Men like you, not igno¬
rant in Aftronomy and true Philofo-
phy ; for with fuch I might promife
my felf a favourable hearing, and
not need to make an Apology for da¬
ring to vent any thing new to the
World, But becaufe I am aware
what weak Hands it’s likely to fall
into, and what a fevere Sentence I
may expeQ: from thofe whofe Igno¬
rance or Zeal is too great ; it may
be worth the while to guard my felf
beforehand againft the A {faults of
thofe fort of People*

There's one fort who knowing Tk
nothing of Geometry or Mathema-
ticks, will laugh at it as a whimfical caviikr*
and ridiculous Undertaking, It’s
incredible Thing to them to talk of
meafuring the Diftance and Magni¬
tude of the Stars : And for the Mo¬
tion of the Earth, they count it, if not
a falfe, at lea ft a precarious Opinion ;
and no wonder then if they take
what’s built upon fuch a flippery Foun¬
dation

6 Conjectures concerning

Book i .

t/W

Thefe Con¬
jectures do
not con¬
tradict the
holy Scrip¬
tures.

dation for the Dreams, of a fanciful
Head and a diftemperM Brain, What
fhould we anfwer to thefe Men, but
that their Ignorance is the Caufe of
their Diflike, and that if they had
ftudied thefe things more, and view¬
ed the Works of Nature nicely, they
would have fewer Scruples ? But few
People having had an opportunity of
profecuting thefe Studies, either fot
want of Parts, Learning or Leifure5
we cannot blame their Ignorance ;
and if they refolve to find fault with
us for fpending time in fuch Matters,
becaufe they do not underhand the
Ufe of them, we mull appeal to pro-
perer Judges,

The other fort, when they hear us
talk of new Lands, and Animals, and
Creatures endued with as much
Reafon as themfelves, will be ready
to cry out, that we let up our Con¬
jectures againfl: the Word of God,
and broach Opinions direflily oppo-
iite to Holy Writ. For we do not
there read any thing of theProdu&i-
on of fuch Creatures, no not fo much
as that they exift ; nay rather we

read

the Planetary Worlds. 7

read the quite contrary. For* ThatBookx*
only mentions this Earth with its A-
nimals and Plants, and Man the Lord
of them : To fuch Perfons I anfwer,
what has been often urged by others
before me : That it’s evident, God
had no defign to make a particular
Enumeration in the Holy Scriptures,
of all the Works of his Creation,

When therefore it is plain that un¬
der the general Name of Stars or
Earth at the Creation, are compre¬
hended all the Heavenly Bodies, even
the Attendants upon Jupiter and Sa¬
turn, why muft all that Multitude
of Beings which the Almighty Cre¬
ator has been plcafed to place upon
them, be excluded the Privilege, and
not fuffered to have a Share in the
Expreffion ? And thefe Men them-
felves can’t but know in what Senfe
it is that all things are faid to be
made for the Ufe of Man, not cer¬
tainly for us to look at through a
Telefcope, for that’s very abfurd.

Since then the greateft part of God’s
Creation, that innumerable multi¬
tude of Stars, is placed out of the

reach

8

Book i® reach of any Man’s Eye; and many
them it’s likely, of the be ft Glades,
fo that they don’t feem to belong to
tis; is it fuch an unreafonable Opi¬
nion to think, that there are fome
reafonable Creatures who fee and
admire thofe glorious Bodies at a
nearer diftance ?

Thh En- But perhaps they’ll fay, it does not
TZttu- become us to be fo curious and inqui-
rims * fitive in thefe Things which the Su-

preme Creator feerns to have kept for
his own Knowledge : For fince he has
not been pleafed to make any farther
Difcovery or Revelation of them, it
fee ms little better than prefumption
to make any inquiry into that which
he has thought fit to hide. But thefe
Gentlemen muft be told, that they
take too much upon themfelves when
they pretend to appoint how far and !
no farther Men fhall go in their
Searches, and to let bounds to other
Menslnduftry, as if they knew the
Marks that God has placed to Know¬
ledge : or as if Men were able to pafs
thofe Marks. If our Forefathers had
been at this rate fcrupulous, we might

have

Conjeifures concerning

the Planetary Worlds. 9

have been ignorant ftill of the Mag- Book*,
nitude and Figure of the Earth, or
that there was fuch aPlace as America-.

We fhould not have known that the
Moon is inlightned by the Sun’s Rays,
nor what the Caufes of the Eclipfes
of each of them are, nor a multitude
of other Things brought to light by
the late Difcoveries in Aftronomy.

For what can a Man imagine more
abftrufe, or lefs likely to be known,
than what is now as clear as the Sun?
Whence it follows, that vigorous In-
duftry, and piercing Wit were given
Men to make Advances in the Search
of Nature, and there’s no Reafon to
put any Stop to fuch Enquiries. I
muft acknowledge that what I here
intend to treat of is not of that Na¬
ture as to admit of a certain Know¬
ledge ; I can’t pretend to affert any
thing as pofitively true (for how is it
poflible) but only to advance a pro¬
bable Guefs, the Truth of which eve¬
ry one is at his own liberty to exa¬
mine. If any one therefore fhall
gravely tell me, that I have fpent my
Time idly in a vain and fruitlefs En¬
quiry

ID

cau

certain.

Conjectures concerning

Book inquiry after what by my own ac-
knowledgment I can never come to
be fore of; The Anfwer is, that at
this rate he would put down all Na¬
tural Philofophy as far as it concerns
it feif In fearching into the Nature
conje- of Things: In fuch noble and fub»
^^Mime Studies as thefe, 7tis a Glory to
J t/e not arrive at Probability, and the Search
it felf rewards the Pains. But there
are many degrees of Probable, feme
nearer Truth than others, in the de¬
termining of which lies the chief ex-
Theft s^.ercife of our Judgment. But befides
dies useful t\\Q Nobleneis and Pleafure of the
Studies, may not we be fo bold as to
fay, they are no fmall help to the Ad¬
vancement of Wifdom and Morality?
fo far are they from being of no ufe
at all* For here we may mount from
this dull Earth, and viewing it from
on high, confider whether Nature has
laid out all her Coft and Finery upon
this fmall Speck of Dirt* So, like
Travellers into other diftant Coun¬
tries, we fhall be better able to judge
of whaPs done at home, know how
to make a true Eftimate of, and fet

its

»

.Hi

f

\

. 1.

t

the Planetary Worlds . 1 i

ks own Value upon every Thing. Booki®
We fhall be lefs apt to admire what
this World calls Great, fhall nobly,
defpife thofe Trifles the generality of
Men fet their Affections on, when
we know that there are a multitude
of fuch Earths inhabited and adorn¬
ed as well as our own. And we
fhall worfhip and reverence that God
the Maker of all thefe things \ we
fhall admire and adore his Provi¬
dence and wonderful Wifdom which
is difplayed and manifdled all over
the Univerfe, to the Confufion of
thofe who would have the Earth and
all things formed by the fhuffiing
Concourfe of Atoms, or to be with¬
out beginning* But to come to our
Purpofe. , % r. 5 -

And now becaufe the chief Argu-Coperni-
ment for the Proof of what we in- c„ss Sy~

item ex**

tend will be taken from the Difpofi - plained .
tion of the Planets, among which
without doubt, the Earth muff be
counted in the Copernican Syftem,!
fhall here firft of all draw two Fi¬
gures. The fir ft is a Defcription of

B the

is, Conjectures concerning

Book i. the Orbs the Planets move in, in that

vy~ys-' order that they are placed round the
Sun, drawn as near as can be in their
true Proportions, like what you have
feen in my Clock at home. The fecond
{hows the Proportions of their Mag¬
nitudes in refpeff of one another and
of the Sun, which you know is upon
that fame Clock of mine too. In the
firft the middle Point or Center is the
Place of the Sun, round which, in an
order that every one knows, are the
Orbits of Mercury, Venus, the Earth
with that of the Moon about it ; then
thofe of Mars , Jupiter and Saturn :
and about the two kill the fmall Cir¬
cles that their Attendants move in %
about Jupiter four, and about Saturn
five. Which Circles as well as that of
the Moon are drawn larger than their
true Proportion would admit, other-
wife they could not have been feenj
You may ealily apprehend the Vaft-
nefs of thefe Orbits by this, that the
diftance of the Earth from the Sun is
ten or twelve thoufand of the Earth’s
Diameters. Almoll all thefe Circles
are in the fame Plane, declining very

little

the Planetary Worlds. 1 3

little from that in which the Earth Booki.
moves, call’d The Plane of the Eclip -
tick . This Plane is cut obliquely by
the Axis upon which the Earth turns
it felf round with refped to the Sun
in 24 Hours, whence arife theSuccef
lions of Day and Night : The Axis
of the Earth always keeping the fame
Inclination to the Ecliptick (except a
fmall Change belt known to Aftro-
nomers) while the Earth itfelf is car¬
ried in its yearly Courfe round the
Sun, caufes the regular Order of the
Seafons of the Year: as you may fee
in all Aftronomers Books. Out of
which I fhall tranfcribe hither the
Periods of the Revolutions of the Pla¬
nets, viz. Saturn moves round the
Sun in 29 Years, 174 Days, and 5
1 Hours : Jupiter finiihes his Courfe in
1 1 Years, 317 Days, and 15 Hours:

Mars his in about 687 Days® Our
Year is 36 5 Days 6 Hours: Venus* s
224 Days 18 Hours: and Mercury's
88 Days. This is the now common¬
ly received Syftem? invented by Co¬
pernicus^ and very agreeable to that
frugal Simplicity Nature fhows in all

B 2 her

i4 Conjectures concerning

Book i .her Works. If any one is refolved to
flncl fault with it, let him firft be lure
mmts for he underftands it. Let him firft fee
the Truth the Books of Aftronomers with
onU/ how much greater Eafe and Plain-
nefs all the Motions of the Stars, and
Appearances in the Heavens are ex¬
plained and demonftrated in this
than either in that of Ptolomy or Ty¬
cho. Let him confider that Difcove-
ry oiKjpier, that the Diftances of the
Planets from the Sun, as well of the
Earth as the reft, are in a fix’d cer¬
tain proportion to the Times they
fpencl in their Revolutions. Which
Proportion it’s fince obferved that
their Satellites keep round Jupiter
and Saturn . Let him examine what
a contradictory Motion they are fain ||
to invent for the Solution of the Po- I
lar Star’s changing its Diftance from |j
the Pole. For that Star in the end of
the little Bear’s Tail which now de-
fcribes fo fmall a Circle round the
Pole, that it is not above two De- I
grees and twenty Minutes, was ob- |
lerved about 1820 Years ago, in the jj
Time of Hipparchus, to be above 12:

and I

/

Sair.

the Planetary JVorlds. i j

and will within a few Ages more be Booki®
45 Degrees diftant from it: and af-
ter 25000 Years more will return to
the fame Place it is npw in. Now if
with them we allow the Heavens to
be turned upon their own Axis, at this
rate they mull haye a new Axis eve¬
ry Day : a Thing mod abfurd, and
repugnant to the Nature of all Mo¬
tion. Whereas nothing is eafier with
Copernicus than to give us Satisfacti¬
on in this Matter, Then he may im¬
partially weigh thofe Anfwers that
Galil#usfiafJendus,Kjpler^ and others
have given to all Objections propofed,
which have fo fatisfied all Scruples,
that generally all Aftronomers now¬
adays are brought over to our Side,
and allow the Earth its Motion and
Place among the Planets. If he can¬
not be fatisfied with all this, he is

either one whofe Dulnefs can’t com-

* >>

prehend it , or who has his Belief at
another Man’s Difpofal.

In the other Figure you have the
Globes of the Planets, and of the
Sun, reprefented to your Eyes as
placed near one another. Where

B 3 I have

Conjectures concerning

Booki.Ihave obferved the fame Proportion*
of their Diameters to that of the Sun*
portion of that I publifhed to the World in my
the Mag* - Book of The Appearances of Saturn :

ThTpiaf namely, the Diameter of the Ring
nets, in round Saturn is to that of the Sun as
refpect of as to 2 7 ; that of Saturn himfelf

ther, and about as $ to 37 ; that or Jupiter
tU sun , as 2 to 1 1 j that of Mars as i to 1665
of the Earth as 1 to in*, and of
Venus as 1 to 84 : to which I fhall
now add that of Mercury obferved by
Hevelius in the Year 1661, but cal¬
culated by my felf, and found to be
as 1 to 2 90.

If you would know the way that
we came to this Knowledge of their
Magnitudes, by knowing the Propor¬
tion of their Diftances from the Sun*
and the Meafures of their Diameters* 1
you may find it in the Book before -
mentioned : And I cannot yet fee any
Reafon to make an Alteration in
thofe I then fettled, altho’ I will not
The La- fay they are without their Faults,
meite For I can’t yet be of their Mind*
~ who think the Ufe of Micrometers*
than Mi- as they call them, is beyond that of

vroweters* ■ " nn«

the Planetary Worlds ,

our Plates, but mull flill think thatBooki.
thofe thin Plates or Rods of which I
there taught the Ufe, not to detradl
from the due Praifes of fo ufeful an
Invention, are more convenient than
the Micrometers.

In this proportion of the Planets it
is worth while to take notice of the
prodigious Magnitude of the Sun in
comparifon with the four innermoft,
which are far lets than Jupiter and Sa¬
turn. And his remarkable, that the
Bodies of the Planets do not increafe
together with their Diilances from
the Sun, but that Venus is much big¬
ger than Mars.

Having thus explained the two The Earth
Schemes, there's no Body I fuppofe.^%
but fees, that in the firffc the Earth is IhTpiP
made to he of the fame fort with the nets, and
reft of the Planets. For the very Po-^f/*’
fition of the Circles fhows it. And
that the other Planets are round like
it, and like it receive all the Light
they have from the Sun, there’s no
room (fince theDifcoveries made by
Telefcopes) to doubt. Another Thing
they are like it in is, that they are mo-

B 4 ved

i S Conjectures concerning

Booki.ved round their own Axis-, forfince
’tis certain that Jupiter and Saturn
are, who can doubt it of the others ?
Again, as the Earth has its Moon mo¬
ving round it5 fo Jupiter and Saturn
have theirs. Now fince in fo many
Things they thus agree, what can be
more probable than that in others
they agree too ; and that the other
Planets are as beautiful and as well
flock’d with Inhabitants as the Earth?
Or what (hadow of Reafon can there
be why they ftiould not ?

If any one fhould be at the Diffefti-
on of a Dog, and be there fhewn the
Intrails, the Heart, Stomach, Liver,
Lungs and Guts, all the V eins, Arte¬
ries and Nerves ; could fuch a Man
reafonably doubt whether there were
the fame Contexture and Variety of
Parts in a Bullock, Hog, or any other
Beaft,tho’ he had never chanc’d to fee
the like opening of them ? I don’t be¬
lieve he would. Or were we tho¬
roughly fatisfy’d in the Nature of one
of the Moons round Jupiter , fhould
not we ftraight conclude the fame of
the reft of them ? So if we could be

affur’d

the Planetary Worlds. 19

allur’d in but one Comet, what it was Booki,
that is the Caufe of that ftrange Ap-
pearance, flaould we not make that a
Standard to judge of all others by ?

’Tis therefore an Argument of no Argu~
fmall Weight that is fetch’d from Re- ™mn ,
lation and Likenefs ; and to reafon similitude,
from what we fee and are fare of, to °f
what we cannot, is no falfe Logick.w*^‘
This mult be our Method in this
Treatife, wherein from the Nature
and Circumftances of that Planet
which we fee before our Eyes, we
may guefs at thofe that are farther
diftant from us.

And, Fir ft, ft is more than probable The pla~
that the Bodies of the Planets are fo
lid like that of our Earth, and that#** w'lth
they donft want what we call Gravi-^J Gr4"
ty, that Virtue, which like a Load-
lfone attrafts whatfoever is near the
Body to its Center. And that they
have fuch a Quality, their very Fi¬
gure is a Proof*, for their Roundnefs
proceeds only from an equal preffure
of all their Parts tending to the fame
Center. Nay more, we are fo skilful
now-a-days, as to be able to tell how

much

ConjeBures concerning

Book i. much more or lefs the Gravitation in
worv' Jupiter or Saturn is than here • of
which Difcovery and its Author you
may read my Ejjay of the Caufes of
Gavitation •

But now to carry the Search far-
ther5 let us fee by what Steps we mull:
rife to the attaining forne knowledge
in the deeper Secrets concerning the
State and Furniture of thefe new
Earths. And5 firft, how likely is it
that they may be flock’d with Plants
Have a- and Animals as well as we ? I fuppofe
no Body will deny but that there’s
flaws, fomewhat more of Contrivrance?fome»
what more wonderful in theProdufti-
on and Growth of Plants and Ani¬
mals, than in Lifeiefs Heaps of inani¬
mate Bodies, be they never fo much
larger as Mountains, Rocks, or Seas
are. For the Finger of God, and the
Wifdom of Divine Providence, is in
them much more clearly manifefted
than in the other. One of Democri¬
tus's or Cartels Scholars may venture
perhaps to give fome tolerable Expli¬
cation of the Appearances in Heaven
and Earth, allow him but his Atoms

and

21

the Planetary Worlds.

and Motion :> but when he comes to Bookf .
Plants and Animals, he’ll find himfelf
non-plus’d, and give you no likely
account of their Production. For
every Thing in them is fo exaftly
adapted to fome Defign, every part
of them fo fitted to its proper XJfe„
that they manifeft an Infinite Wif-
dorn, and exquifite Knowledge in
the Laws of Nature and Geometry,
as, to omit thofe Wonders in Genera¬
tion, we fhall by and by fhow ^ and
make it an Abfurdity even to think of
their being thus happily jumbled to¬
gether by a chance Motion of I don’t
know what little Particles. Now
fhould we allow the Planets nothing
but vaft Deferts, lifelefs and inanimate
Stocks and Stones, and deprive them
of all thofe Creatures that more plain¬
ly fpeak their Divine Architect, we
fhould fink them below the Earth in
Beauty and Dignity a Thing very
unreasonable, as I laid before.

Well then, we have gain’d the
Point thus far, and the Planets may
be allowed fome Creatures capable of
moving themfelves, not at all inferior

to

a % Conjectures concerning

Booki. to ours *5 and thefe are Animals. And
if this be allowed, italmoft neceffari-
1 y follows, that there mull be Herbs
Not to be for Food for them* And as for the
7ofZ?ke Growth and Nourifhment of all
ours. thefe, 9tis no doubt the fame with
ours, feeing they have the fame
Sun to warm and enliven them as
ours have,

But perhaps fome Body may fay,
we conclude too fait. They will not
deny indeed but that there may be
Plants and Animals on the Surface of
the Planets, that deferve as well to be
provided for by their Creator as ours
do : but why muft they be of the fame
Kind with ours : Nature feems to love
variety in her Works, and may have
made them widely different from ours
either in their matter or manner of
Growth, in their outward Shape, or
their inward Contexture; fhe may
have made them fuch as neither our
Underffanding nor Imagination can
conceive. That’s the Thing we fhall
now examine, and whether it be not
more likely that fhe has not obferv’d
fuch a Variety as they talk of. Nature

feems

the Planetary Worlds. 23

feems moft commonly, and in mod ofBoofei.
her Works, to affe£t V ariety, ’tis true ; ^VNJ
But they fhould confider ’tis not the
Bufinefs of Men to pretend to fettle
how great this Difference and Variety
muft be. Nor does it follow, becaufe
it may be Infinite, and out ofour Com-
prehenfionand Reach, that therefore
Things in reality are fo. Forfuppofe
God fhould have pleafed to have
made all Things in the reft of the
Planets juft as he has here, the Inhabi¬
tants of thofe Places (if there are any
fuch) would admire hisWifdomand
Contrivance no lefs chan if they were
widely different ; feeing they c'an’t
come to know what’s done in the
other Planets. Who doubts but that
God, if he had pleafed, might have
made the Animals in America and "
other diftant Countries nothing like
ours ? yet we fee he has not done it.

They have indeed fome difference in
their Shape, and 7tis fit they fhould*
to diftinguifh the Plants and Animals
of thofe Countries from ours, who
live on this fide the Earth ; but even
in this Variety there is an Agreement,

an

H

Planets
have Wa¬
ter,

Conjetiures concerning

an exa£fc Correfpondence in Figure
and Shape, the fame ways df Growth,
and new Productions, and of conti¬
nuing their own Kind, Their Ani¬
mals have Feet and Wings like ours,
and like ours have Hearts, Lungs5
Guts, and the Parts ferving to Gene¬
ration ; whereas all thefe Things, as
well with them as us, might, if it
had pleafed Infinite Wifdom, have
been order’d a very different Way.
5Tis plain then that Nature has not
exhibited that Variety in her Works
that fhe could, and therefore we miift
not allow that Weight to this Argu¬
ment, as upon the Account of it to
make every Thing in the Planets
quite different from what is here. 5Tis
more probable that all the Difference
there is between us and them, fprings
from the greater or lels diftance and
influence from that Fountain of Heat
and Life the Sun } which will caufe
a Difference not fo much in their
Form and Shape, as in their Matter
and Contexture.

And as for the Matter whereof the
Plants and Animals there confift, the?

It

the Planetary iVorlds. 2 y

It is impoffible ever to come to the Book i.'
Knowledge of its Nature, yet this we
may venture to alTert (there being
fcarce any Doubt of it) that their
Growth and Nourifhment proceeds
from fome liquid Principle,, For all
Philofophers argee that there can be
no other way of Nutrition; fome of
the Chief among them having made
Water to be the Original of allThings :

For whatfoever’s dry and without
Moifture, is without Motion too *
and without Motion, it’s impoffible
there fhould be any Increafe. But the
Parts of a Liquid being in continual
Motion one with another, and infr*
nuating and twifting themfelves into
the fmalleft Places, are thereby very*
proper and apt to add not themfelves
only, but whatfoever elfe they may
bring along with them, to the Increafe
and Growth of Bodies. Thus we fee
that by the Means of Water the
Plants grow, bloffom, and bear
Fruit ; and by the Addition of that
only, Stones grow together out of
Sand. And there's no doubt but
that Metals, Cryftals, and Jewels,

have

% 6 Conjectures concerning

Book i . have the fame Method of ProduQT

^YVon : Tho? in them there lias been no
opportunity to make the fame Obser¬
vation, as well by reafon of their {low
Advances, as that they are common¬
ly found far from the Places of their
Generation; thrown tip I fuppofe
by Some Earthquakes, or Convulsi¬
ons. That the Planets are not with¬
out Water, is made not improbable
by the late Observations : For about
Jupiter are obferved iome Spots of a
darker Colour than the reft of his Bo¬
dy, which by their continual change
Show themfelves to be Clouds: For
the Spots of Jupiter which belong to
him, and never remove from him,
are quite different from thefe, be¬
ing fometimes for a long time not
to be Seen for thefe Clouds^ and a-
gain, when thefe difappear, Showing
themfelves. And at the going off of
thefe Clouds, fome Spots have been
taken notice of in him, much bright¬
er than the reft of his Body, which
remained but a little while, and then
were hid from our Sight. Thefe
Monfieur Cajjini thinks are only the

RefteQT

the Planetary Worlds. 2 7

S • S

Refleftion from the Snow that covers Booki®
the Tops of the Hills in Jupiter: But
I fhould rather think that it is only the
Colour of the Earth, which happens
to be free from thofe Clouds that com¬
monly darken it.

Mars too is found not to be without
his dark Spots, by means of which he
has been obferved to turn round his
own Axis in 24 Hours and 40 Minutes;
the Length of his Day : but whether he
has Clouds or no, we have not had the
fame opportunity of obferying as in
Jupiter , as well becaufe even when he
is neared the Earth, he appears to us
much lefs than Jupiter , as that his
Light not coming fo far, is fo brisk as
to be an Impediment to exaffc Obfer-
vations : And this Reafon is as much
ftronger in Venus as its Light is. But
fmce 7tis certain that the Earth and
Jupiter have their Water and Clouds,
there is no Reafon why the other Pla¬
nets ftiould be without them. I can’t Bui not
j fay that they are exaQdy of the fame^/**

; nature with our Water ; but that they
I fhould be liquid their Ufe requires, as
their Beauty does that they fhould be

C clean

18 Conjectures concerning

Book i . clear. For this Water of ours, in Jupi-
ter or Saturn , would be frozen up in*
ftantly by reafon of the vaft diftance
of the Sun, Every Planet therefore
muft have its Waters offuch a temper,
as to be proportioned to its Heat : Ju¬
piter's and Saturn's muft be of fuch a
Nature as not tobeliabletoFroft ; and
Venus's and Mercurfs of fuch, as- not to
be eafily evaporated by the Sun. But
in all of them, for a continual fupply
of Moifture, whatever Water is drawn
up by the Heat of the Sun into Vapours,
muftneceffarily return back again thi¬
ther. And this it cannot do but in
Drops, which are caufed as well there
as with us, by their afcending into a
higher and colder Region ofthe Air,out:
of that which, by reafon ofthe Refle-J
dion ofthe Rays of the Sun from the]
Earth, is warmer and more tempe-J
rate.

Here then we have found in thefe.
new Worlds Fields warm’d by the:
kindly Heat of the Sun, and water’d :
with fruitful Dews and Showers : That:
there muft be Plants in them as well!
for Ornament as Ufe, we have fhewm

jufti

the Planetary Worlds.

juft now. And what Nourishment, Booki.
what manner of Growth fhall we al-
low them ? Probably, there can be no Piants
better, nay no other, than what we here grow and
experience 5 by having their Roots faft-*^™***
ned into the Earth, and imbibing its there as
nourishing Juices by their tender Fi-^ ars
bres. And that they may not be only
like fo many bare Heaths, with no¬
thing but creeping Shrubs and Bullies,
we may allow them feme nobler
and loftier Plants, Trees, or Somewhat
like them : Thefe being the greateft,
and, except Waters, the only Ornament
that Nature has bellowed upon the
Earth, For not to (peak of thefe ma¬
ny ufes that are made of their Wood,
there’s no one that is ignorant either of
their Beauty or Pleafantnefs. Now
what way can any one imagine for a
continual Produ&ion and Succeffion of
thefe Plants, but their bearing Seed ?

A Method fo excellent, that it*s the
only one that Nature has here made
ufe of, and fo wonderful, that it feems
to be defigned not for this Earth alone.

In line, there’s the fame reafon to think
that this Method is obferved in thofe

C 2 di-

concerning

o

g o Conjectures

Booki.diftant Countries, as there was of its
being followed in the remote Quar¬
ters of this fame Earth,

The fame ’Tis much the fame in Animals as

UU(! °f . ’tis in Plants, as to their manner of
mats. Nourilhment, and Propagation ot their

Kind. For fince all the living Crea¬
tures of this Earth, whether Beafts,
Birds, Filhes, Worms, Or Infers, uni-
verfally and inviolably follow the fame
conftant and fix’d Inftitution of Na¬
ture ; all feed on Herbs, or Fruits, or
the Flefh of other Animals that fed on
them : fince all Generation is perform¬
ed by the impregnating of the Eggs,
and the Copulation of Male and Fe¬
male: Why may not the fame Rule
be obferved in the Planetary Worlds?
For *tis certain that the Herbs and A-
nimals that are there would be loft,
their whole Species deflroyed without
fome daily new Productions : except
there be no fuch thing there as Mis¬
fortune or Accident : except the Plants
are not like other humid Bodies, but
can bear Heat, Froft, and Age, with¬
out being dry’d up, kill’d or decay’d :
except the Animals have Bodies as hard

and

the Planetary Worlds, 3 1

and durable as Marble; which I think Book u
are grofs Abfurdities. If we fhould '-'"V*'"'
invent fome new Way for their co¬
ming into the World, and make them
drop like Soland Geefe from Trees, how
ridiculous would this be to any one that
con fiders the vaft Difference between
Wood and Flefh? Or fuppofe we
fhould have new ones made every Day
out of fome fuch fruitful Mud as that
of Nile, who does not fee how con¬
trary this is to all that’s reafonable ?

And that ’ds much more agreeable to
the Wifdom of God, once for all to
create of all forts of Animals, and.di-
{tribute them all over the Earth in
fuch a wonderful and inconceivable
way as he has, than to be continually
obliged to new Productions out of the
Earth? And what miferable, what help-
lefs Creatures muft thefe be, when
there’s no one that by his Duty will be
obliged, or by that ftrange natural
fondnefs, which God has wifely made
a neceflary Argument for all Animals
to take care of their own, will be
moved to aflift, nurfe or educate
them ?

C j As

3a

Book i. As for what I have faid concerning

^/Y\J their Propagation, I cannot be fo po
fitive ; but the other Thing, namely.,
that they have Plants and Animals, I
think I have fully proved, viz. from
hence, that otherwife they would be
inferiour to our Earth. And by the
fame Argument, they mu ft have as
great a Variety of both as we have.
What this is, will be beft known to
him that confiders the different Ways
our Animals make ufe of in moving
from one Place to another. Which may
be reduc’d, I think, to thefe ; either
that they walk upon two Feet or Four ;
or like Infers, upon Six5 nay fometimes
Hundreds ; or that they fly in the Air
bearing up, and wonderfully fleering
themfelves with their Wings; or creep
upon the Ground without Feet ; or
by a violent Spring in their Bodies, or
paddling with their Feet, cut them¬
felves a Way in the Waters. I don’t
believe, nor can I conceive, that there
fhould be any other Way than thefe
mentioned. The Animals then in the
Planets muft make ufe of one or more
of thefe, like our amphibious Birds,

which

Conjectures concerning

the Planetary Worlds. 3 3

which can fwim in Water as well as Booki.
walk on Land, or fly in the Air } or
like our Crocodiles and Sea-Horfes,
mu ft be Mongrels, between Land and
Water. There can no other Method
be imagined but one of thefe. For
where is it pofiible for Animals to live,
except upon fuch a folid Body as our
Earth, or a fluid one like the Water, or
Hill a more fluid one than that, fuch as
our Air is? The Air 1 confefs may be
much thicker and heavier than ours,
and fo, without any Difadvantage to
its Tranfparency, be fitter for the vo¬
latile Animals. There may alio be ma¬
ny forts of Fluids ranged over one ano¬
ther in Rows as it were. The Sea per¬
haps may have fuch a fluid lying on it,
which tho’ ten times lighter than Wa¬
ter, may be a hundred Times heavier
than Air^ whofe utmoft Extent may
not be fo large as to cover the higher
Places of their Earth* But there’s no
Reafon to fufpeft or allow them this,
fince we have no fuch Thing } and if
we did, it would be of no Advantage
to them, for that the former Ways of
moving would not be hereby at all in-

C 4 creas’d :

54 Conjectures concerning

Booki. creas’d : But when we come to med-
die with the Shape of thefe Creatures,
and confider the incredible Variety that
is even in thofe of the different parts
of this Earth, and that America has
fome which are no where eife to be
found, I muff then confefs that I think
it beyond the Force of Imagination to
arrive at any knowledge in theMatter?
or reach to Probability concerning the
Figures of thefe Planetary Animals.
Altho* confidering thefe Ways of Mo¬
tion we e’en now recounted, they may
perhaps be no more different from ours
than ours (thofe of ours I mean that are
moft unlike) are from one another.

If a Man were admitted to a Sur¬
vey of Jupiter or Venus , be would no
doubt find as great a Number and Va¬
riety as he had at home. Let us then,
that we may make as near a Guefs at,
and as reafonable a Judgment of the
Matter as we can, confider the many
Sorts, and the admirable Difference in
„ the Shapes of our own Animals : run-
rutytfA- Ding over fome or the Chief of them
nimais in (for ’twould be tedious to fet about a
thtsEarth. genera] Catalogue) that are notori-

oufly

1

the Planetary Worlds. gy

oufly different from one another, either Book i.
in the Figure or fome peculiar Property
belonging to them ; as they belong to
the Land, or the Water, or the Air. A-
mong the Beafts we may take notice
of the great Diftance between the
Horfe, the Elephant, the Lion, the
Stag, the Camel, the Hog, the Ape,
the Porcupine, the Tortoife, the Came*
leon : in the Water, of that between
the Whale, and the Sea-Calf, the Skait,

: thePike, the Eel, the Ink-Fifh, thePour-
: contrel, the Crocodile, the Flying-fifh,
theCramp-fifh, the Crab, the Oifter,
and the Purple-Fifh : and amongBirds,
i of that between the Eagle, the OftriCh,

I the Peacock, the Swan, the Owl, and
i theBat : and in Infefts, of that between
the Ants, the Spider, the Fly, and the
Butterfly *5 and of that Prodigy in their
wonderful change from Worms. In
this Roll I have pafs’d by the creeping
Kind as one Sort, and skip’d over that
vafl: Multitude of lefs different Ani¬
mals that fill the intermediate Spaces.

But be they never fo many, there is no
reafon to think that the Planets cannot Any n&
match them. For tho1 we in vain guefs ufi in th*

Planets .

3<S

Book i.

The fame
in Plants .

Conje£fures concerning

at the Figures of thofe Creatures, yet
we have difcover’d fomewhat of their
manner of Life in general j and of their
Senfes we (hall fpeak more by and by.

The more confiderable Differences
in our Plants ought to be thought on,
as well as the other. As in Trees,
that between the Fir and the Oak, the
Palm, the Vine, the Fig, and the Co¬
co-Nut Tree, and that in the Indies,
from whofe Boughs new Roots fpring, j
and grow downwards into the Earth, jj
In Herbs, the Difference is notable be¬
tween Grafs, Poppy, Colewort, Ivy,
Pompions, and the Indian Fig with
thick Leaves growing up without any
Stalk, and Aloe. Between every one
of which again there are many iefs
differing Plants not taken notice of.
Then the different Ways of railing i
them are remarkable, whether from 1
Seeds, or Kernels, or Roots, or by '
grafting or inoculating them. And I
yet in all thefe, whether we confider ‘
the Things themfelves, or the Ways of
their Produffion, I make no doubt but
that the Planetary Worlds have as
wonderful a Variety as we.

But

. the Planetary Worlds, 3 7

But (till the main and moft agreea- Booki.
ble Point of the Enquiry is behind,
which is the placing forne Spectators An-tmais
in thefe new Difcoveries, to enjoy inthePU-
thefe Creatures we have planted them nets-
with, and to admire their Beauty and
Variety. And among all, that have
never fo {lightly meddled with thefe
Matters, 1 don’t find any that have
fcrupied to allow them their Inhabi¬
tants : not Men perhaps like ours, but
fome Creatures or other endued with
Reafon. For all this Furniture and
Beauty the Planets are flock’d with
feem to have been made in vain, with¬
out any Delign or End, unlefs there
were feme in them that might at the
lame time enjoy the Fruits, and adore
the wife Creator of them. But this
alone would be no prevaling Argu¬
ment with me to allow them fuch
Creatures. For what if we Ihouid lay,
that God made them for no other De-
fign, but that he himfelf might fee
(not as we do ’tis true ^ but that he
that made the Eye fees, who can
doubt ?) and delight himfelf in the

Contemplation of them? For was not

Man

Conjectures concerning

Book i. Man himfelf, and all that the whole
c/VV World contains, made upon this very !
account ? Thac which makes me of
this Opinion, that thofe Worlds are not
without fuch a Creature endued with
Reafon, is, that otherwife our Earth
would have too much the Advantage
of them, in being the only part of the
Univerfe that could boaft of fuch a
Creature fo far above, not only Plants
and Trees, but all Animals whatfoe-
ver : a Creature that has fomething
Divine in him, that knows, and un-
derftands, and remembers fuch an in*
numerable number of Things ; that
deliberates, weighs and judges of the
Truth: A Creature upon whofe Ac¬
count, and for whofe Ufe, whatsoever
the Earth brings forth feems to be pro¬
vided. For every Thing here he con- 1
verts to his own Ends. With the
Trees, Stones, and Metals, he builds
himfelf Houfes : the Birds and Fi (lies
he fuftains himfelf with : and the Wa¬
ter and Winds he makes fubfervient to
his Navigation ^ as he doth the fweet
Smell and glorious Colours of the Flow* *
ers to his Delight. What can there be

the Planetary Worlds. 39

in the Planets that can make np for its Booki,
.Defects in the want of fo noble an A-
: nimai ? If we fhould allow Jupiter a
greater Variety of other Creatures,

I more Trees, Herbs and Metals, all
thefe would not advantage or dignify
that Planet fo much as that one Ani¬
mal doth ours by the admirable Pro¬
ductions of his penetrating Wit. If I
-am miitaken in this, I do not know
when to truft my Reafon, and muffc
allow my felf to be but a poor judge
in the true Eftimate of Things.

Nor let any one fay here, that there’s vices of
fo much Villany and Wickednefs in f™d™nce
Man that we have thus magnified , to their be -
that it’s a reafonable Doubt, whether ™gtorthe0f
he would not be fo far from being the the Planet
Glory and Ornament of the Planet they.tin~,
that enjoys his Company, that heJi*^-
would be rather its Shame and Dif-
grace. For firft, the Vices that moft
Men are tainted with, are no hin¬
drance, but that thofe that follow the
Didates of true Reafon, and obey the
Rules of a rigid Virtue, are ftill a
Beauty and Ornament to the Place that
has the Happinefs to harbour them.

BefideSj

(

40 Conjectures concerning

Book i. Befides, the Vices of Men themfelveg
^Ware of excellent Ule, and are not per¬
mitted and allowed in the World with- •
out wife Defign, For fince it has fdi
pleafed God to order the Earth, and
every Thing in it as we fee it is (for
it's abfurd to fay it happen’d againft:
his Will or Knowledge) we muft not
think that fo great a Diverfity of Minds;
were placed in different Men to no End
or Purpofe : but that this mixture off
bad Men with Good, and the Come--
quents of fuch a Mixture, as Misfor¬
tunes, Wars, Afflictions, Poverty, and!
the like, were permitted for this very
good End, viz, the exercifing our:
Wits, and fharpening our Inventions ;
by forcing us to provide for our owm
neceflary Defence againft our Enemies0
’Tis to the Fear of Poverty and Mifery
that we are beholden for all our Arts
and for that natural Knowledge which
was the ProduQ: of laborious Induftry
and which makes us that we cannot:
but admire the Power and Wifdom of
the Creator, which otherwife we;
might have patted by with the fames
indifference as Beafts* And if Mem

were

)

the Planetary Worlds. 41

< were to lead their whole Lives in an Booki.
1 undifturbed continual Peace, in no fear vTV
c of Poverty, no danger of War, I
5 doubt they would live little better
d than Brutes, without all knowledge
3 or enjoyment of thofe Advantages
1 that make our Lives pafs on with Plea-
l fure and Profit. We fhould want the
r wonderful Art of Writing, if its great
r Ufe and neceffity in Commerce and
War had not forced out the Invention.

' ’Tis to thefe we owe our Art of Sail-
t ing, our Art of Sowing, and moft of
thofe Difcoveries of which we are Ma¬
tters ; and almoft all the Secrets in
experimental Knowledge. So that
thofe very Things on account of which
the Faculty of Reafon feems to have
been accufed, are no fmall helps -to its
Advancement and Perfection. For
thofe Virtues themfelves, Fortitude
and Conftancy, would be of no ufe
if there were no Dangers, no Adver-
fity, no Afflictions for their Exercife
and Trial.

If we fhould therefore imagine in
the Planets fome fuch reafonable Crea¬
ture as Man is, adorn’d with the fame

Vir-

42, Conjectures

Book i. Virtues, and liable to the fame Vice s,
it would be fo far from degrading or
vilifying them, that while they want
fuch a one, I muft think them infe¬
rior to our Earth.

rm/o» But if we allow thefe Planetary In-
diff/reZ* habitants fome fort of Reafon, muft it
from needs, may fome fay, be the fame with
what’th ours? Certainly it mufti whether
we confider it as applied to Juft ice and
Morality, or exercifed in the Princi¬
ples and Foundations of Science. For
Reafon with us is that Which gives us
a true Senfe of Juftice and Hdnefty,
Praife, Kindnefs and Gratitude : ’tis
That that teaches us to diftinguifh uni-
verfally between Good arid Bad ; and
renders us capable of Knowledge and .
Experience in it. And can there be :
i any where any other Sort of Reafon !
than this ? or can what We call juft J
and generous, in Jupiter or Mars be
thought unjuft Villany ? This is not i
at all, I don’t fay probable, but pofft- I
ble. For the Aim and Defign of the \
Creator is every where the Preferva- *
tion and Safety of his Creatures. Now f
when fuch Reafon as we are Matters m

of, I

the Planetary Worlds, 43

of, is neceffary for the prefervation of Book 1.
Life, and promoting of Society (a thing -/yv
that they are not without, as we fhall
fhow) would it not be ftrange that the
Planetary Inhabitants fhbuld have fuch
a perverfe Sort of Reafon given them,
as would neceflarily deftroy and con- '
found what it was defigri’d to maintain
and defend ? But allowing Morality
and Pa (lions with thofe diftant Inha¬
bitants to be fomewhat different from
ours, and fupppfing they may act by
other Principles in what belongs to
Friend fh ip and Anger, Hatred, Ho-
nefty, Modefty, and Comehnefq yet
ftill there would be no doubt, but that
in the Search after Truth, in judging
of the Confequences of Things, in
Reafon ing, particularly in that Sort
which belongs to Magnitude or Quan-
I tity, about which their Geometry (if
they have fuch a Thing) is employ’d,
there would be no doubt, I fay, but
3 that their Reafon here muft be exa£t-
! ly the fame, and go the fame Way to
( work with ours, and that what’s true
I in one part will hold true over the
i whole Univerfe ; fo that all the diffe-

D fence

44

concerning

Conjectures

Book i. rence muft lie in the Degrees of Know¬
ledge, which will be proportional to
the Genius and Capacity of the Inha¬
bitants,

They have gut \ perceive I arii got fomewhat

mjes. t00 £ar < Let us er)qujre a Ifttie

concerning the bodily Senfes of thefe
Planetary Perfons ; for without fuch,
neither will Life be any Pleafure to
them, nor Reafon of any Ufe. And
I think it very probable, that all their
Animals, as well their Beafts as ratio¬
nal Creatures, are like ours in all that
relates to the Senfes : For without the
Power of Seeing we fhould find it im-
poffiblefor Animals to provide Food for
themfelves, or be fore-warn’d of any
approaching Danger, fo as to guard
themfelves from it. So that where-ever
we plant any Animals, except we wou’d
have them lead the Life of Worms or
Moles, we muft allow them Sight:, than
which nothing can conduce more ei¬
ther to the Prefervation or Pleafure of i
their Lives, Then if we confider the :

Tight*

I

wonderful Nature of Light, and the

amazing Artifice in the fit framing the
Eye for the Reception of it, we cannot

but

::

the Planetary Worlds. 45-

but fee that Bodies fo vaftly remote Book i.
could not be perceived by us in their ^VXI
proper Figures and juft Diftances, any
other way than by Sight. For this
1 Senfe, and all others that we know of,
i muft proceed from an external Motion.

Which in the lenfe of Seeing muft come
either from the Sun, the fix’d Stars, or
Fire : whofe Particles being put into a
very quick Motion, communicate it
to the Celeftial Matter about, whence
his convey’d in a very fhort time to
themoft diftant parts, juft like Sound
through the Air. If it were not for
this Motion of the intermediate JEthe-
rial Matter, we fhould be all in Dark-
[ nefs, and have Sight neither of Sun nor
t Stars, nor any thing elfe, for all other
. Light muft come to us by Reflection
from them. This Motion perceived
I by the Eyes is called Light® And the
: nice Curiofity of this Perception is ad¬
mirable, in that it is caufed by the
fmalleft Particles of the luminous Bo*
dy brought to us by that fine Matter*
which at the fame time determine the
Coaft from whence the Motion comes;
i and in that all thefe different Roads of

D 2 Motion*

4 6

s concerning

Booki. Motion, thefe Waves crofting and in-
terferirig with one another, are yet no
hindrance to every one’s free Paffage.
All thefe Things are fo wifely, fo won¬
derfully contrived, that it’s above the
Power of humane Wit, to invent or
frame any thing like them •, nay, it is
very difficult fo much as to imagine
and comprehend them. For what can
be more amazing, than that one fmall
Part of the Body fhould be lb devifed
and framed, as by its means to fhow us;
the Shape, the Pofition, the Diitance,,
and all the Motions, nay, and all the:
Colours, of a Body that is far remote:
from us, that it may appear the more:
diftmft ? And then the artful Com-i
pofition of the Eye, drawing anexacF
picture of the Obje£ts without it, upo
the concave Side of the Choroides, i
even above all Admiration, nor is ther
any Thing in which God has mor
plainly manifefted his excellent Geo
metry. And thefe Things are not only |
contriv’d and fram’d with fo great Wif- i
dom and Skill,asnotto admit of better,!
but to any one that confiders them at- ii
tentively, they feem to be of fuch a Na- |

tur«ii

the Planetary Worlds. 47

tare as not to allow any other Method. Book?*
For it’s impofiible that Light flhould re-
prefent Objefts to us at fo vaft a di-
ftance, except by fuch an intervening
Motion j and it’s as impoffible that any
other Compofition of the Eye fhould be
equally fitted to the Reception of fuch
Imprelfions. So that I cannot but think
them greatly miftaken, that maintain
thele Things might have been contri¬
ved many other Ways. It’s likely then,
and credible, that in thefe Things the
Planets have an exatl correfpondence
with us, and that their Animals have
the fame Organs, and ufe the fame way
of Sight that we do. They mud have
Eyes therefore, and two at leaft we muft
grant them, otherwife they would not
perceive thofe Things clofe to them, nor
hardly be able to walk about with Safe¬
ty. And if we muft allow them to all
Animals for the Prefervation of their
Life, how much more muft they that
make more, and more noble Ufes of
them, not be deprived of the Bleffing
of fo advantageous Members ? For by
them we view the various Flowers, and
the elegant Features of Beauty ; with

D j them

4$ Conjectures concerning

Book i c them we read, we write, we contem-
plate the Heavens and Stars, and mea-
fare their Difhnces, Magnitudes, and
Journeys : which how far they are
common to the Inhabitants of thofe
Worlds with us, I fhall prefently ex¬
amine. But firft I fhall enquire whe¬
ther now we have given them one,
we ought alfo to give them the other

Hearing, four Senfes. And indeed as to Hear¬
ing many Arguments perfwade me to
give it a Share in the Animals of thofe
new Worlds* For \is of great confe-
quence in defending us from fudden.
Accidents , and, especially when See-*
ing is of no ufe to us, it fupplies its;
Place, and gives us feafonabie warn-'
ing of any imminent Danger, Befides,
we fee many Animals call their Fel~:
low to them with their Voice, which1
Language may have more in it tham
we are aware of, tho’ we don't under-
ftand it. But if we do but confider the.
vaft Ufes and necefifary Occafions of
Speaking on the one fide, and Hearing
on the other, among thofeCreatures that
make ufe of their Reafon, it willfcarce
feem credible that two fuch ufeful, fuch

ex:

the Planetary Worlds, 4 9

excellent Things were defigned only Booki;
for us. For how is it poffible but that
they that are without thefe, muft be
without many other Neceflaries and
Conveniences of Life? Or what can
they have to recompenfe this Want?

Then, if we go ftill farther, and do
but meditate upon the neat and frugal
Contrivance of Nature in making the
fame Air, by the drawing in of which
we live, by whole Motion we fail,
and by whofe Means Birds fly, for a
Conveyance of Sound to our Ears ; and
this Sound for the Conveyance of ano¬
ther Man’s Thoughts to our Minds :

Can we ever imagine that fhe has left
thofe other Worlds deftkute of fo vaft
Advantages? That they don’t want a Medium
the Means of them is certain, for their t0 €onvey
having Clouds in Jupiter puts it paft IITeJL
doubt that they have Air too; that
being moftly formed of the Particles of
Water flying about, as the Clouds are
of them gathered into fmall Drops. And
another Proof of it is, the neceffity of
breathing for the prefervation of life, a
Thing that feems to be as univerfal a
Dictate of Nature, as feeding upon the
Fruits of the Earth. D 4 As

5 o Conjectures concerning

Book i. As for Feeling, it feems to be given
upon neceffity to all Creatures that are
Toiich' cover’d with a fine and fenfible Skin3
as a Caution againft coming too near
thofe Things that may injure or in¬
commode them: and without it they
would be liable to continual Wounds,
Blows and BruifeSc Nature feems to
have been fo fenfible of this, that Die
has not left the leaft place free from
fuch a Perception. Therefore iPs pro¬
bable that the Inhabitants of thole
Worlds are not without fo neceffary a
Defence, and fo fit a Prefervative a-
gainft Dangers and Mifhaps.
smell and ■ And who is there that doth not feu
the inevitable neceffity for all Crea¬
tures that live by feeding to have both
Tafteand Smell, that they may diftin-
guifti thofe Things that are good and
nourilliing, from thofe that are mif-
chievous and harmful? If therefore
we allow the Planetary Creatures to
ieed upon Herbs, Seeds, or Flefh, wq
mu ft allow them Tafte and Smell, that
they may chufe or refute any Thing
according as they find it likely to be
advantageous or noxious to them.

1 ~ I know

the Planetary Worlds. 3 1

I know that it hath been a Queftion Booki.
with many, whether there might not
have been more Senfes than thefe five.

If we fhould allow this, it might m- Their Sen-
verthelefs be reafonably doubted, whe-£“
ther the Senfes of the Planetary Inha -rent from
bitants are much different from ours/m*

I mull confefs, I cannot deny but
there might poffibly have been more
Senfes 5 but when I confider the Ufes
of thofe we have9 I cannot think but
they would have been fuperfluous.

The Eye was made to difcern near
and remote Obje£ts, the Ear to give
us notice of what our Eyes could not,
either in the Dark or behind our Back :

Then what neither the Eye nor the
Ear could, the Nofe was made (which
in Dogs is wonderfully nice) to warn
us of. And if any thing efcapes the no¬
tice of the other four Senfes, we have
Feeling to inform us of the too near
Approaches of it before it can do us any
mifchiefo Thus has Nature fo plenti¬
fully, fo perfedly provided for the ne-
ceffary prefervation of her Creatures
here, that I think fhe can give no¬
thing more to thofe there, but what

Conjectures concerning

Book i. will be needlefs and fuperfluous. Yet
the Senfes were not wholly defigned
for ufe : but Men from ail, and all
other Animals from feme of them,
reap Pleafure as well as Profit, as from
the Tafte in delicious Meats ; from the
Smell in Flowers and Perfumes; from
the Sight in the Contemplation of
beauteous Shapes and Colours ; from
the Hearing in theSweetnefs and Har¬
mony of Sounds; from the Feeling in
Copulation, unlefs you pleafe to count
that for a particular Senfe by it felf.
They w Since it is thus, i think kis but reafo-
$ leaf ure nable to allow the Inhabitants of the
V^the Plants thefe fame Advantages that we
senfe*. have from them. For upon this Confi-
deration only, how much happier and
eafier a Man’s Life is rendred by the
enjoyment of them, we muft be ob~ i
iiged to grant them thefe Bleffings, 1
except we would engrofs every thing
that is good to our felves, as if we
were worthier and more deferving
than any elfe. But moreover, that
Pleafure which we perceive in Eating
or in Copulation, feems to be a neceffa-
ry and provident Command of Na¬
ture,

I

the Planetary Worlds. f 5

ture, whereby it tacitly compels m to Booki.
the prefervation and continuance of
our Life and Kind. It is the fame in
Beads. So that both for their Happi-
nefs and Prefervation it’s very proba¬
ble the reft of the Planets are not with¬
out it. Certainly when I confider all
thefe Things, how great, noble, and
ufeful they are when I confider what
an admirable Providence it is that
there’s fuch a Thing as Pleafure in
the World, I can’t but think that our
Earth, the fmalleft part almoft of the
Univerfe, was never defign’d to mo¬
nopolize fo great a Blefling. And thus
much for thofe Pleafures which afteft
our bodily Senfes, but have little or no
relation to our Reafon and Mind.

But there are other Pleafures which
Men enjoy, which their Soul only and
Reafon can relifh : Some airy and
brisk, others grave and folid, and yet
neverthelefs Pleafures, as arifing from
the Satisfaction which we feel in
Knowledge and Inventions, and
Searches after Truth, of which whe¬
ther the Planetary Inhabitants are not
partakers, we fhall have an opportuni¬
ty of enquiring by and by® There

14U the
Planets
fa&veFire,

jzj. Conjectures concerning

Book i. There are fome other things to be
C/Y\) confider’d firft, in which it’s probable
they have fome relation to us* That
the Planets have thole Elements of
Earth, Air and Water, as well as we,
1 have already made not unlikely* Let
us now fee whether they may not have
Fire alfo : which is not fo properly
call’d an Element, as a very quick
Motion of the Particles in the inflama-
ble Body. But be it what it will,
there are many Arguments for their
not being without it. For this Earth
is not fo truly call’d the Place of Fire
as the Sun : and as by the Heat of that
all Plants and Animals here thrive and
live ; fo, no doubt, it is in the other
Planets. Since then Fire is caufed by
a moft intenfe and vigorous Heat, it
follows that the Planets, efpecially
thole nearer the Fountain of it, have
their proportionate degrees of Heat
and Fire. And fince there are fo ma¬
ny ways of its Production, as by the
collection of the Rays of the Sun, by
the reflection of Mirrors, by the lin¬
king of Flint and Steel, by the rub¬
bing of Wood, by the clofe loading of

moift

the Planetary Worlds , 5 5

ttioift Grafs, by Lightning, by the Booki.
eruptions of Mountains and Volcanos,
it’s ftrange if neither Art fhould have
produced it, nor Nature effected it
there by one of thefe many means.

Then how ufeful and neceifary is it to
us ? By it we drive away Cold, and
fupply the want of the Sun in thofe
Countries where his oblique Rays
make a lefs vigorous Impreffion, and
fo keep a great part of the Earth from
being an uninhabited Defart : which
is equally neceffary in all the Planets,
whether we allow them Succeffion of
i Seafons, ora perpetual Spring and cE~
quinox : for even then the Countries
near the Pole would receive but little
Advantage from the Heat of the Sun,

By the help of this we turn the Night
into Day, and thereby make a confi-
derable addition to the fhortnefs of
our Lives. Upon all thefe Accounts
we ought not to think this Earth of
ours enjoy jt all alone, and exclude all
the other Planets from fo advantage¬
ous and fo profitable a Gift.

But perhaps it may be asked as well
concerning Brutes as rational Crea¬
tures,

5 6 Conjectures concerning

Bookstores, and or their Plants and Trees
too, whether they are proportionably
The big - larger or lefs than ours. For if the
ntfelf Magnitude of the Planets was to be the
creatures Standard of their meafure, there would
r "it be Animals in Jupiter ten or fifteen

ly guefl at . , - l

by the times larger than Elephants, and as
nefs of the much longer than our W hales, and
aMU' then their Men mull be all Giants in
refpeft to us. Now tho7 I don’t fee
any fo great Abfurdity in this as to
make it impofiibie, yet there isnorea-
fon to think it is really fo, feeing Na¬
ture has not always ty3d her felf to
thofe Rules which we have thought
more convenient for her: For exam*
pie, the Magnitude of the Planets is
not anfwerable to their diftances from
the Sun :> but Mars^ tho7 more remote*
is far lefs than Venus : and Jupiter
turns round his Axis in ten Hours,
when the Earth which is much lefs
than him, 1 pends 24. But fince Na¬
ture, perhaps fome will fay, has not
obferved fuch a Regularity in the pro¬
portion of Things, for ought we know
there may be only a Race of Pygmies
1 about the Bignefs of Frogs and Mice,

pot

the Planetary Worlds. 57

fefs’d of the Planets. But I {hall (how Book f 9

that this is very improbable by and

by.

There may arife another (^ueftion,
whether there be in the Planets but nets are
one fort of rational Creatures, or iffoTts of
there be not feveral forts poffefled of rational
different degrees of Reafon and Senfe.^^TL
There isfomething not unlike this to here.
be obferved among us. For to pafs by
thofe who have human Shape (altho1
fome of them would very well bear that
Enquiry too) if we do but confider fome
forts of Beafts, as the Dog, the Ape, the
Beaver, the Elephant, nay fome Birds
and Bees, what Senfe and Underhand-
ing they are matters of, we {hall be
forced to allow, that Man is not the
only rational Animal. For we difco-
ver fomewhat in them of Reafon in¬
dependent on, and prior to all Teach¬
ing and Practice.

But hill no Body can doubt, but
that the Underftanding and Reafon
j ofMan is to be preferred to theirs, as
I being comprehenfive of innumerable
' Things, indued with an infinite memo-
j ry of what’s paft, and capable of pro¬
viding

5$ Conjectures concerning

Book i. viding againft what’s to come. Tha t
there is feme fuch Species of rational
Creatures in the other Planets, which,
is the Head and Sovereign of the reft,
is very reafonable to believe : for o-
therwife, were many Species endued
with the fame Wifdom and Cunning*
we fliould have them always doing
Mifchief, always quarrelling and fight¬
ing one with another for Empire and
Sovereignty, a Thing that we feel too
much of where we have but one fuch
Species. But to let that pafs, our next
Enquiry fhall be concerning thofe Ani¬
mals in the Planets which are furnifh-
ed with the greateft Reafon, whether
it’s poffible to know wherein they em*
ploy it, and whether they have made
as great Advances in Arts and Know¬
ledge as we in our Planet. Which de-
ferves moffc to be confidered and ex- t
amined of any thing belonging to their
Nature and for the better Perform¬
ance of it we mult take our Rife fome-
what higher, and nicely view the
Lives and Studies of Men.

And in thofe things wherein Men
provide and take care only of what’s

the Planetary Worlds, $9

abfolutely neceffary for the prefervati-Booksu
on of their Life ; in defending them- v/YV
felves from the Injuries of the Air ; in
fecuring themfelves againd the Incur-
fions of Enemies by Walls; and a*
gainft Fraud and Didurbances by
Laws ; in educating their Children,
and providing for themfelves and
them : In all thefe I can fee no great
reafon that Man has to hoaft of the
Pre-eminency of his Reafon above
Beads and other Animals. For mod '
of thefe Things they perform with
greater Eafe and Art than we, and
fome of them they have no need of
For that Senfe of Virtue and Juftice in
which Man excels, of Friendfhip,
Gratitude and Honedy, of what ufe
are they, but either to put a flop to
the Wickednefs of Man, or to fecure
us from mutual Affaults and Injuries,

Things wherein the Beads want no
Guide but Nature and Inclination ;?

Then if we fet before our Eyes tlie
manifold Cares, the Didurbances of
Mind, the redlefs Defires, the dread
of Death, that are the refult of this
Our Reafon *5 and compare them with

E that

6o

Book i. that eafy, quiet, and harmlefs Life
which other Animals enjoy, we fhould
be apt to wifh a Change, and conclude
that they, efpecially Birds, lived with
more Pleafure and Happinefs than
Man could with all his Wifdom. For
they have as great a Relifh of bodily
Pleafures as we, let the new Philofo-
phers fay what they will, who would
have them to be nothing but Clocks
and Engines of Flefh; a Thing which
Beafts fo plainly confute by crying
and running away from a Stick, and
all other Actions, that I wonder how
any one could fubfcribe to fo abfurdi
and cruel an Opinion, Nay, I can,
fcarce doubt but that Birds feel no*
Email Pleafure in their eafy, frnooth.
failing through the Air • and would [i
much more if they but knew the Ad-1
vantages it hath above our flow and!
Menchief- laborious Progreffion. What is it:

then after all that fets human Reafom
Beafts m above all other, and makes us prefera-j
tht study 5je to the reft of the Animal World?!
ij a ^isjothing in my Mind fo much as the
Contemplation of the Works of God;
and the Study of Nature, and the im¬
proving!

Conjectures concerning

the Planetary Worlds „ 6 1

proving thofe Sciences which may Booki ,
bring us to fome knowledge in their w<VVJ
Beauty and Variety. For without
Knowledge what would be Content

Iplation ? And what difference is there
between a Man, who with a carelefs
fupine Negligence views the Beauty
s and Ufe of the Sun, and the fine gol¬
den Furniture of the Heaven, and one
i who with a learned Nicenefs fearches
i into their Coorfes *5 who understands
? wherein the Fix’d Stars, as they are
] call’d, differ from the Planets, and
f what is the Reafon of the regular Vi-
| ciffitude of the Seafons j who by found
Reafoning can meafure the Magnitude
and Diftance of the Sun and Planets ?
i Or between fuch a one as admires per¬
haps the nimble Activity and ft range
Motions of fome Animals, and one
that knows their whole Structure, un¬
derftands the whole Fabrick and Ar¬
chitecture of their Compofition } If
therefore the Principle we before laid
down be true, that the other Planets
are not inferiour in Dignity to ours,
what follows but that they haveCrea- They havi
tures not to ftare and wonder at the f{*rono*

E 2 Works y'

Conjectures concerning

Book i. Works of Nature only, but who em-
ploy their Reafon in the Examination
andKnowledge ofthem,and have made
as great Advances therein as we have ?
They do not only view the Stars, but
they improve the Science of Aftrono-
my : nor is there any thing can make
us think this improbable, but that fond
Conceitednefs of every Thing that we
call our own,and that Pride that is too
natural to us to be eafily laid down.
But I know feme will fay. We are a
little too bold in thefe Ailertions of
the Planets, and that we mounted hi¬
ther by many Probabilities, one of
which, if it chance to be falfe, and
contrary to our Suppofition, would,
like a bad Foundation, ruin the whole
Building, and make it fall to the «
Ground. But I would have them to <
know, that all I have faid of their
Knowledge in Aftronomy, has Proofs
enough, antecedent to thofe we now
produced. For fuppoling the Earth,,
as we did, one of the Planets of equal!
Dignity and Honour with the reft,,
who would venture to fay, that no i
where elfe were to be found any that:

the Planetary W irids. 6 $

; enjoy’d the glorious Sight of Nature’s Booki*
Theatre ? Or if there were any Fellow-
: Spectators, yet we were the only ones
: that had dived deep into the Secrets
; and Knowledge of it? So that here’s a
! Proof not fo far fetch’d for the Aftro*
i nomy of the Planets, the fame which
* we ufed for their having rational Crea-
l tures, and enjoying the other Advan-
i cages we before talk’d of; which ferves
; at the fame time for the Confirmation
of our former Conjectures. But if
Amazement and Fear at the Eclipfes
of the Moon and Sun gave the firft oc~

: cafion to the Study of Aftronomy, as
probably they did, then it's almoft im~

I poffible that Jupiter and Saturn flhould
| be without it; the Argument being of
much greater force in them, by rea~
fon of the daily Eclipfes of their
Moons, and the frequent ones of the
Sun to their Inhabitants. So that if a
| Ferfon difmterefted in his judgment*

: and equally ignorant of the Affairs of
i all the Planets, were to give his Opi¬
nion in this Matter, I don't doubt he
1' would give the Caufe for Aftronomy
: to thofe two Planets rather than us.

E 3 This

6 4

Book i .

W'y'-’W

And all its
fubfervi -

Geometry
and A-
rithme -
2 kk :

And Wri¬
ting*

ConjeBures concerning

This Suppofition of their Knowledge
and Ufe of Aftronomy in the Planeta¬
ry Worlds, will afford us many new
Conjeftures about their manner of
Life, and their State as to other things.

For, Firft : No Obfervations of the
Stars that are neceffary to the Know¬
ledge of their Motions, can be made
without Inftruments ; nor can thefe
be made without Metal, Wood, or
fame fuch folid Body. Here’s a ne-
ceflity of allowing them the Carpen¬
ters Tools, the Saw, the Ax, the
Plane, the Mallet, the File : and the
making of thefe requires the Ufe of
Iron, or fome equally hard Metah
Again, thefe Inftruments can’t be with¬
out a Circle divided into equal Parts,
or a ftrait Line into unequal. Here’s
a neceffity for introducing Geometry
and Arithmetick. Then the Necef¬
fity in fuch Obfervations of marking
down the Epochas or Accounts of
Time, and of tranfmitting them to
Pofterity, will force us to grant them
the Art of Writing; perhaps very dif¬
ferent from ours which is commonly
ufed, but I dare affirm not more inge¬
nious*

the Planetary Worlds*

nious or eafy. For how much more Booki,
ready and expeditious is our Way, than
by that multitude of Characters ufed
inChina j and how vaftly preferable to
Knots tied in Cords, or the Pictures
in ufe among the barbarous People of
Mexico and Peru ? There’s no Nation
in the World but has fame way or
other of writing or marking down
their Thoughts : So that it’s no won¬
der if the Planetary Inhabitants have
been taught it by that great Schooi-
\ miftrefs Neceflity, and apply it to the
Study of Aftronomy and other Scien¬
ces. fn Aftronomical Matters the Ne¬
ceflity of it is moreover apparent from
hence, that the Motion of the Stars is
as hwere to be fancied and guefs’d at
in different Syftems, and thefe Syftems
to be continually improved and cor¬
rected, as later and more exaCt Obfer-
vations fhall convince the old ones of
Faults: all which can never be deli¬
ver’d down tofucceedingGenerationsf
unlefs we make ufe of Letters and
Figures.

Sut after all thefe large and liberal
Allowances to Them, they will ftill

E 4 be

Conjectures concerning

Booki.bebehind-hand with us, For we have
fo certain a Knowledge of the true
o/ gyftem an(l Frame of the Univerfe^
we have fo admirable an Invention
of Telefcopes to help our failing Eye-
light in the view of the Bignefs and
different Forms of the Planetary Bo¬
dies, in the difcovery of the Moun¬
tains, and the Shadows of them on the
Surface of the Moon, in the bringing
to light an innumerable multitude of
Stars otherwife invifible, that we rauft
neceffarily be far their Matters in that
Knowledge. Hence it is almoft necef-
fary (except we have a Mind to flat¬
ter and complement our felves as the
only People that have the Advantage
of fuch excellent Inventions) either to
allow the Planetary Inhabitants fuch
fharp Eyes as not to need them, or
elfe the ufeofGlaffes to help the Defi¬
ciency of their Sight, And yet I dare
not affert this, left any one fhould be
fo difturbed at the Extravagancy of
fuch an Opinion, as to take the mea-
Cure of my other Con jeftures by it,
and hifs them all off, upon the account
of this alonea

the Planetary F/orlds. 6 7

But fome Body snay perhaps objeQ:, Booki.
and that not without reafon at firft
light, that the Planetary Inhabitants it’s encelmt
likely are deftitute of all refined Know- contrary
) ledge, juft as the Americans were before ^

1 they had Commerce with the Eurofe-

Ians. For if one confiders the Ignorance
of thofe Nations, and of others in Afia
and Africa equally barbarous, it will
appear as if the main Defign of the
Creator in placing Men upon the Earth
r was that they might live, and, in a

!juft fenfe of all the Blellings and Plea-
fure they enjdy, worfhip the Foun-
f tain of their Ha ppinefs; but that fome
; few went beyond the Bounds of Na¬
ture in their Enquiries after Know¬
ledge, There does not want an Am
fwer to thefe Men. For God could
not but forefee the Advances Men
would make, in their enquiring into
the Heavenly Bodies : that they would
difcover Arts ufeful and advantageous
to Life : that they would crofs the Seas*
and dig up the Bowels of the Earth,
Nothing of all this could happen contra¬
ry to the Mind and Knowledge of the
Infinite Author of all Things. And if

68

Booki.he forefaw thefe Things would be9
he fo appointed and cleitin’d them to
humane kind. And the Studies of Arts
and Sciences cannot be fa id to be con¬
trary to Nature, frnce in the feareh
thereof they are employ’d : efpecially if
we confider how great the natural de¬
fire and love of Knowledge, rooted in
all Men is. For its impartible this
fhould have been given them upon no
Defign or Account. Bul they will
urge, that if fuch a Knowledge is
natural, if we were born for it, why
are there fo very few, efpecially in
Aftronomy, that profecute thefe Stu¬
dies ? For Europe is the only Quarter
of the Earth in which there have
been any Advancements made in A-
ftronomy. And as for the Judicial A-
ftrology, which pretends to foretel
what is to come, it is fuch a wretched
and oftentimes mifehievous piece of
Madnefs, that Ido not think it ought
to be fo much as named here. And
even in Europe, not one in a hundred
Thoufand meddles with thefe Studies.
Befides, its Original and Rife is fo
late, that many Ages were part before

Conjectures concerning

the Planetary Worlds. 6 9

the very firft Rudiments of Aftronomy Booki*
or Geometry (which is neceffary to the ^ v ~
learning of it) were known. For eve-
ry Body is acquainted aimoft with its
firft Beginnings in Egypt and Greece .

Add to this, that his not yet above
fourfcore Years frnce the bungling E-
picycles were difcarded, and the true
and eafy plain Motion of the Planets
was difcovered. For the Satisfaction
of thefe Scruples, to what we faid
before,concerning the Fore-knowledge
of God, may be added this ; That God
never defigned we fhould come into
the World Aftronomers or Philofo-
phers thefe Arts are not infufed
into us at our Birth, but were or¬
dered, in long Trafts of Time, by
degrees to be the Rewards and Re-
fult of laborious Diligence ; efpecial-
ly thofe Sciences which are now in
debate, are fo much the more difficult
and abftrufe, that their late Invention
and flow Progrefs are fo far from being
a Wonder, that it is rather ftrange
they were ever difcover’d at all. There
are but few, I acknowledge one or two
perhaps in an Age, that purfue them,

or

7o Conjectures concerning

Book i. or think them their Bufinefs : but their
Number will be very confiderable if we
take in tnofe that have lived in all the
Ages in which Aftronomy hath flou¬
rished : and no Body can deny them
thatHappinefs andContentment which
they have pretended to above all others.
In fine, it was fufficient that fo fmall
a Number fliould make it their Study*
fo that the Profit and. Advantage of
their Inventions might but fpread it
felf over all the World. Since then
the Inhabitants of this Earth, let them
be never fo few, have had Parts and
Genius fufficient for the Attainment of
this Knowledge; and there’s no reafon
to think the Planetary Inhabitants lefs
ingenious or happy than our felves ; we
have gain’d our Point, and ;tis probable
that they are as skilful Aftronomers as
we can pretend to be. So that now
we may venture to deduce feme Con'
fequences from fuch a Supposition.

We have before fhow’d the neceffa-
ry Dependence and Connexion, not
only of Geometry and Arithmetick,
but of Mechanical Arts and In fl: ru¬
men ts with this Science. This leads

us

«

the Planetary Wi orlds. 7 1

us naturally to the Enquiry how they Book 1.
j can ufe thefe Inftruments and Engines
for the Obfervation of the Stars, how
they can write down fuch their Obfer-
vations, and perform other Things
which we do with our Hands. So
that we muft neceffarily give them
! Hands, or fome other Member, as con- Tfoy havt
venient for all thofe Ufes, inftead 0[Han
them. One of the ancient Philofophers
laid fuch Strefs upon the Ufe and Con-
veniency of the Hands, that he made
no fcruple to affirm, they were the
Caufe and foundation of all our
Knowledge. By which, I fuppofe, he
meant no more, than that without their
Help and Affiftance Men could never
arrive to the Improvement of their
Minds in natural Knowledge : And
indeed not without Reafon. For fup¬
pofe inftead of them they had had
Hoofs like Horfes or Bullocks given
them, they might have laid indeed the
Model and DelignofCitiesand Houfes
in their Head, but they would never
have been able to have built them.

They would have had no Subje£t of
Difcourfe but what belong d to their

Vi-

Conjee:

tunes concerning

Book i. Vi&uals, Marriages, or Self-preferva-
tion. They would have been void of
ail Knowledge and Memory 5 and in¬
deed would have been but one degree
diftant from brute Beads. What could
we invent or imagine that could be fo
exaftly accommodated to all the de-
fign’d U fes as the Hands are ? Elephants
can lay hold of, or throw any thing
with their Probofcis, can take up even
the fmalleft Things from the Ground'
and can perform fuch furprifing Things
with it, that it has not very improper¬
ly been calPd their Hand, tho’ indeed
it is nothing but a Nofe fomewhat lon¬
ger than ordinary. Nor do Birds
ihow lefs ArtandDefignintheUle of
their Bills in the picking up their Meat,
and the wonderful Compofureof their
Mefts. But all this is nothing to
thofe Conveniences the Hand is fo
admirably fuited to ; nothing to that
amazing Contrivance in its Capacity
of being flretched, or contracted, or
turned to any Part as Occafion fihall re- •
quire. And then, to pafs by that nice)
Senfe that the Ends of the Fingers are;
endued with, even to the feeling and

di«

the Planetary iVorlds.

cliftinguifhing moft forts of Bodies inBooki.'
the Dark, what Wifdom and Art is^VXi
Ihow’d in the Difpofition of theThumb

I and Fingers, fo as to take up or keep
fad hold of any Thing we pleafe? Ei¬
ther then the Planetary Inhabitants
mull have Hands, or fomewhat equal¬
ly convenient, which it is not eafy to
conceive , or elfe we mull: fay that Na¬
ture has been kinder not only to us5but
even to Squirrels and Monkeys than
them.

That they have Feet alfo fcarce any And Feet*
one can doubt, that docs but confider
what we faid but juft now of Animals
I different Ways of going along, which
1 it’s hard to imagine can be perform’d
j any other ways than what we there re-
counted. And of all thofe, there’s none
can agree fo well with the ftate of the
Planetary Inhabitants, as that that we
here make ufe of Except (what is
not very probable, if they live in So-
, ciety, as I fhail ffaow they do) they
have found out the Art of flying in
, fome of thofe Worlds.

' The Stature and Shape of Men here That thef
j does fhow forth the Divine Provi- ar^htfz

dence

i

74

Conjectures concerning

Booki.dence fo much in its being fo fitly
adapted to itsdefign’d Ufes, that it is
not without reafon that all the Philo-
fophers have taken notice of it, nor
without Probability that the Planetary
Inhabitants have their Eyes and Coun¬
tenance upright, like us, for the more
convenient and eafy Contemplation
and Obfervations of the Stars. For if
the Wifdom of the Creator is foobfer-
vable, fo Praife- worthy in the Pofition
of the other Members \ in the conveni¬
ent Situation of the Eyes, as Watches
in the higher Region of the Body; in
the removing of the more uncomely
Parts out of light as ’twere j we can¬
not but think he has almoft obfer-
ved the fame Method in the Bodies,
of thofe remote Inhabitants. Nor
it follows does it follow from hence that they
not ^f'muft be of the fame Shape with us. 1
they have For there is fuch an infinite poffible
the Jame variety of Figures to be imagined, that
both the Structure of their whole Bo¬
dies, and every part of them, both out-
fide and infide, may be quite different
from ours. How warmly and conveni¬
ently are fome Creatures cloath’d withi

WoblJ

Shape
with us.

the Planetary Worlds. 7 y

Wool, and how finely are others deck- Book i.
ed and adorn’d with Feathers ? Per- ^YNJ
haps among the rational Creatures in
the Planets there may fome fuch diftin-
dtion be obferv’d in their Garb and Co¬
vering a Thing in which Beafts feem
to excel Men in here. Unlefs per¬
haps Men are born naked, for this
reafon to put them upon employ¬
ing and exercifing their Wits, in the
inventing and making that Attire that
Nature had made neceffary for them.

And ’tis this Neceffity that has been
the greateft, if not only occafion of all
the Trade and Commerce, of all the
Mechanical Inventions and Difcove-
ties that we are Mafters of. Befides*

: Nature might have another great Con-
veniency in her Eye, by bringing Men
into the World naked, namely, that
they might accommodate themfelves*
to all places of the World, and go
thicker or thinner cloth’d, according as
the Seafon and Climate they liv’d in
> requir’d. There may ftill be conceiv¬
ed a greater difference between us and
the Inhabitants of the Planets ; for
I there are fome fort of Animals, fuch

F as

Conjectures concerning

Book i. as Oyfters, Lobfters, and Crab-fifh,
whofe Flefh is on the infide of their
Bones as ’twere. But that which hin¬
ders me from afcribing fuch a kind of
Frame and Composition to the Plane¬
tary Inhabitants, is that Nature feems
to have done it only in a few of the
meaneft Sort of Creatures, and that
hereby they would be deprived of that
quick eafy motion of their Hands and
Fingers, which is fo ufeful and necef-
to them, otherwife I Should not be
much affefled with the odd Shape and
Figure.

a rational For ’tis a very ridiculous Opinion,,
soul may that the common People have got, :
hotter “ that his impoffible a rational Soul
shape than [ hould dwell in any other Shape than :
tHrs' ours. And yet as filly as ’tis, it has!
been the occafion of many Philofo-
phers allowing the Gods no others
Shape ; nay, the Foundation of a Se&i!
among the Chriftians, that from hence :
have the Name of Jntbropomorphites,
This can proceed from nothing bus)
the Weaknefs, Ignorance, and Prejuf
dice of Men •, the fame as that othe.j
concerning humane Shape, that it ill

tin

the Planetary Worlds. 7 7

the handfomeft and mod excellent ofBooki.
all others, when indeed it’s nothing
| but a being accuftomed to that Figure

!that makes us think fo, and a Conceit
that we and all other Animals natu¬
rally have, that no Shape or Colour can
be fo good as our own. Yet fo power¬
ful are thefe, that were we to meet
with a Creature of a much different
! Shape from Man, with Reafon and
Speech, we fhould be much furprifed
and fhocked at the Sight. For if we
try to imagine or paint a Creature like
a Man in every Thing elfe, but that
has aNeck four times as long, and great
round Eyes five or fix times as big, and
farther diftant, we cannot look upon’t
without the utmoft Averfion, altho7
at the fame time we can give no ac¬
count of our Difiike,

When I juft now mentioned th erhePiam-
Stature of the Planetary Inhabitants,^^

I hinted that ’twas improbable they than w$.
fhould be lefs than we are. For
it’s likely, that as our Bodies are
made in fuch a proportion to our
Earth, as to render us capable of tra¬
velling about it, and making Obferva-

F 2 tions

Conjectures concerning

Booki.tions upon its Bulk and Figure, the
c/YNJ fame Order is obferv’d in the Inhabi¬
tants of the other Planets, unlefs in
this Particular alfo, which is very con-
fiderable, we would prefer our felves
to all others. Then feeing we have
before allowed them Aftronomy and
Obfervations, we muft give them Bo¬
dies and Strength fufficient for the ru¬
ling their Inftruments, and the erefting
their T ubes and Engines. And for this
the larger they are the better. For if
we fhould fuppofe them Dwarfs not
above the Bignefs of Rats or Mice,
they could neither make fucli Obferva-
tions as are requifite*, nor fuch Inftru¬
ments as are neceifary to thofe Obfer-
vations. Therefore we muft fuppofe
them larger than, or at leaft equal to,
our felves, efpecially in Jupiter and s
Saturn, which are fo vaftly bigger 1
than the Planet which we inhabit.

They live Aftronomy, we faid before, could
m society. never fubfift without the writing

down the Obfervations : Nor could
the Art of Writing (any more than
the Arts of Carpenters and Founders)
ever be found out except in a Society

of

the Planetary Worlds. 79

of reafonable Creatures, where theBooki.
Neceflities of Life forced them upon In-
vention : So that it follows from hence,

(as was before faid) that the Plane¬
tary Inhabitants mud: in this be like
us, that they maintain a Society and
Fellowship with, and afford mutual
Afliftances and Helps to one another.
Hereupon we muft allow them a fet¬
tled, not a wandring Scjthian way of
i living, as more convenient for Men in
Such Circumftances. But what fol¬
lows from hence ? Muft they not have
every thing elfe proper for fuch a man-
: ner of living granted them too? Muft
they not have their Governours,

Houfes, Cities, Trade and Bartering?

1 Why fhould they not, when even the
t barbarous People of America and other
I Places were at their firft Difcovery
) found to have fomewhat of that na¬
ture in ufe among them, I don’t fay,
that Things muft be the fame thereas
they are here. We have many that
1 may very well be fpared among ratio*
i nal Creatures, and were defign’d only
| for the prefervation of Society from all
i Injury, and for the curbing of thofe

F 1 Men

So

Book i .Men who make an ill ufe of their Rea-
{on to the Detriment of others. Per¬
haps in the Planets they have fuch plen¬
ty and affluence of all good Things, as
they neither need or defire to fteal from
One another 5 perhaps they may be ib
juft and good as to be at perpetual
Peace, and never to lie in wait for, or
take away the Life of their Neigh¬
bour : perhaps they may not know
what Anger or Hatred are \ and if fo9
they muft be much happier than we.
But it's more likely they have fuch a
mixture ofGood with Baa,of Wife with
Fools, of War with Peace, and want
not that School miftrefs of Arts Pover-
verty. For, as was before fhown,
feme good ufe may be made of thefe
things, but if not, there is no Reafon
why we fhould prefer their Condition !
to our own.

They enjoy What I am now going to fay may i
feom fomewhat more bold, and yet is
society, not lefs likely than the former. For
if thefe Nations in the Planets live in
Society, as I have pretty well fhow’d
they do, bis fomewhat more than pro¬
bable that they enjoy not only the

Profit, ,

Conjectures concerning

the Planet ary Worlds. 81

i

I

t

Profit, but the Plea fares arifing from Booki.
Society: fuch as Converfation, A-
mours, Jetting, and Shews, Other-
wife we fhould make them live with¬
out Diverfion or Merriment ; we
fhould deprive them of the great
Sweetnefs of Life, w hich it can’t well
be without, and give our felves fuch
an Advantage over them as Reafon
will by no means admit of.

Rut to proceed to a farther Enquiry
into their Bufinefs and Employment,
let’s confider what we have not yet
mention’d, wherein they may bear
any Likenefs to us. And firft we have
good Reafon ro believe they build
themfelves Houles, becaufe we are fare
they are not without their Showers.

For in Jupiter have been obferved
Clouds, big no doubt with Vapours
and Water, which hath been proved
by many other Arguments, not to be
wanting in that Planet. They have
Rain then, for otherwife how could
all the Vapours drawn up by the
Heat of the Sun bedilpofed of? And
Winds, for they are caufed only by
Vapours diffolved by Heat, and it’s

F 4 plain

8 ^ Conjectures concerning

Book i. plain that they blow in Jupiter by the
continual Motion and Variety of the
Str Cloud5 about him. To proted them-

Huts, or live in Holes of the Earth.
But why may we notfuppofe the Pla¬
netary Inhabitants to be as good Ar¬
chitects, have as noble Houfes, and
as ftately Palaces as our felves ?
Unlefs we think that every Thing
which belongs to our felves is the moll
beautiful and perfed that can he. And
who are we, but a few that live in a
little Corner of the World, upon a Ball
ten Thoufand times lefs than Jupiter
or Saturn ? And yet we muft be the
only skilful People at Building j and
all others muft be our Inferiours in
the Knowledge of uniform Symetry !
and not be ab!e to raife Towers and
Pyramids as high, magnificent, and
beautiful, as our felves. For my part,

I fee no reafon why they may not be
as great Matters as we are, and have
the Ufe of all thofe Arts fubfervient
to it, as Stone'Cutting and Brick- ma-

king.

fecure 'em lelves trom taeie, ana tnat tney may
ma~P^s their Nights in Quiet and Safety,
they muft build themfelves Tents or

the Planetary Worlds. 83

king, and whatfoever elfe is neceffary Booki.
for it, as Iron, Lead and Glafs ; or or-
namental to it, as Gilding and Pidure*

If their Globe is divided like ours,
into Sea and Land, as it’s evident
it is (elfe whence could all thofe Va¬
pours in Jupiter- proceed ?) we have
great Reafon to allow them the Art of
Navigation, and not vainly ingrofs fo
great, fo ufeful a Thing to our felves.
Especially confidering the great Ad van¬
tages Jupiter and Saturn have for Sail¬
ing, in having fo many Moons to di-
red their Cotrrfe, by whofe Guidance
they may attain eafily to the Know¬
ledge that we are not Matters of, of the
Longitude of Places. And what a Mul¬
titude of other Things follow from
this Allowance? If they have Ships,
they mutt have Sails and Anchors,

Ropes, Pullies, and Rudders, which are
of particular Ufe in direding a Ship’s
Courfe againft the Wind, and in fail¬
ing different Ways with the fame Gale.

And perhaps they may not be without
the Ufe of the Compafs too, for the
magnetical Matter, which continually
paffes thro’ the Pores of our Earth*

8 4 Conjectures concerning

Book i. is of fuch a Nature, that it5s very pro-
bable the Planets have fomething like
xavigati- it. But there’s no doubt but that they
on, and an muft have the Mechanical Arts and
firvkmT Aftrdnomy, without which Naviga¬
tion can no more fubfift, than they
can without Geometry.

But Geometry (lands in no need of
being prov’d after this manner. Nor
doth it want Adi fiance from other Arts
which depend upon it, but we may
have a nearer and fhorter A durance of
their not being without it in thofe
Earths. For that Science is of fuch An¬
gular Worth and Dignity, fo peculiarly
irUploys the Underftanding, and gives
it fuch a full Gomprehenfion and infal¬
lible certainty of Truth, as no other
Knowledge can pretend to : it is more¬
over of fuch a Nature, that its Princi¬
ples and Foundations muft be fo im- !
mutably the fame in all Times and
Places, that we cannot without In-
juftice pretend to monopolize it,
and rob the reft of the Univerfe of
fuch an incomparable Study. Nay
Nature it fclf invites us to be Geome¬
tricians, it prefents us with Geo¬
metrical

’As Geo¬
metry.

the Planetary Worlds. 8 5

metrical Figures, with Circles andBooki.
Squares, with Triangles, Polygones,
and Spheres, and propofes them as
it were to our Confideration and Study,
which abftradting from its Ufeful-
nefs, is moll delightful and ravifhing,.

Who can read Euclid 5 or Apollonius^
about the Circle, without Admiration?

Or Archimedes of the Surface of the
Sphere, and Quadrature of theParabo-
la without Amazement ? or confider
the late ingenious Difcoveries of the
Moderns with Boldnefs and Uncon-
cernednefs ? And all thefe Truths are
as naked and open, and depend upon
the fame plain Principles and Axioms
in Jupiter and Saturn as here, which
makes it not improbable that there are
in the Planets feme who partake with
us in thefe delightful and pleafant Stu¬
dies. But what’s the greateft Argu¬
ment with me, that there are fuch, is
their Ufe, I had almolt faid Neceflity,
in mod Affairs of humane Life, Now
we are got thus far, what if we fhould
venture fomewhat farther, and fay,
that they have our Inventions of the
Tables of Sines, of Logarithms, and

Algebra ?

$6 Conjectures concerning

Book i. Algebra ? I know it would found ve~
w^nrw ry odd, and perhaps a little ridiculous,
and yet there’s no reafon but the think¬
ing our felves better than all the World,
to hinder them from being as happy
in their Difcoveries, and as ingenious
in their Inventions as we our felves
are,

They have It’s the fame with Mufick as with
MujieL Qeometry? it’s every where immutably

the fame, and always will be fo. For
all Harmony confifts in Concord, and
Concord is all the World over fix’d ac¬
cording to the fame invariable Meafure
and Proportion. So that in all Nations
the Difference and Diftance of Notes
is the fame, whether they be in a con¬
tinued grad ual Progreffion,or the V oice
makes skips over one to the next. Nay
very credible Authors report, that
there’s a fort of Bird in America , that
can plainly fing in order fix mufical
Notes : Whence it follows, that the
Laws of Mufick are unchangeably
fix’d by Nature, and therefore the
fame Reafon holds for their Mufick,
as we e’en now fhewed for their Ge¬
ometry. For why, fuppofing other

the Planetary Worlds.

Nations and Creatures, endued withBooki.
Reafon and Senfe as well as we, fhould
not they reap the Pleafures arifing
from thefe Senfes as well as we too? I
don’t know w hat Effect this Argument,
from the immutable Nature of thefe
Arts, may have upon the Minds of
others; I think it no inconfiderable or
contemptible one, but of as great
Strength as that which I made uie of
above to prove that the Planetary In¬
habitants had the Senfe of Seeing.

But if they take delight in Harmo¬
ny, there is no doubt but that they
have invented Mufical Inftruments.

For they could fcarce help lighting
upon fome or other by chance ; the
Sound of a tight String, the Noife of
the Winds, or the whittling of Reeds,
might have given them the hint*

From thefe fmall Beginnings they
perhaps, as well as we, have advan¬
ced by degrees to the Ufe of the Lute^

Harp, Flute, and many ftring’d In¬
ftruments. But altho’ the Tones are
certain and determinate, yet we find
among different Nations a quite diffe¬
rent manner and rule for Singing as

Cmjdfures concerning

Book i. formerly among the Dorians 7 Phrygi*
wW ans, and Lydians, and in our Time
among the French , Italians , and
jtoi. In like manner it may fo hap¬
pen, that the Mufick of the Inhabi¬
tants of the Planets may widely differ
from all thefe, and yet be very good*
But why we fhould look upon their
Mufick to be worfe than ours, there’s
no reafon can be given ; neither can
we well prefume that they want the
Ufeof Half-Notes and Quarter-Notes*
feeing the Invention of Half Notes is fo
obvious, and the Ufe of them fo asree-
able to Nature, Nay, to go a Step far- *
ther, what if they fhould excel us in the :
Theory and praTick part of Mufick, .
and outdo us in Conforts of vocal and I
inftrumental Mufick, fo artificially
compos’d, that they fhew their Skill by ;
theMixtures of Difcords and Concords? . !
and of this laft fort ’tis very likely the I
5 th and 3d are in ufe with them.

This is a very bold Affertion, but it |
may be true for ought we know, and |:l
the Inhabitants of the Planets may pof- *
fibly have a greater infight into the
Theory of Mufick than has yet been 1

dif 5

the Planetary Worlds. 8 g

difcover’d among us. For if you ask Book j»
any of our Muficians, why two or more
perfeft Fifths cannot be uied regularly
in Compofition *5 tome fay his to avoid
that Sweetnefs and Lufhioufnefs which
arifes from the Repetition of this plea*
fing Chord. Others fay, this mull be
avoided for the fake of that Variety of
Chords that are requifite to make a
good Compofition and thefe Reafons
are brought by Cartes and others. But
an Inhabitant of Jupiter or Venus will
perhaps give you a better Reafon for
this, viz. becaufe when you pafs from
one perfeft Fifth to another, there is
fuch a Change made as immediately
alters your Key, you are got into a
new Key before the Ear is prepared
for it, and the more perfect Chords
you ufe ofthe fame kind in Confecu-
lion, by fo much the more you offend
the Ear by thefe abrupt Changes.

Again, one of thefe Inhabitants per¬
haps can fhow how it comes a bout, that
in a Song of one or more Farts, the Key
cannot be kept fo well in the fame a-
greeable Tenour, unlefs the intermedi¬
ate Clofcs and Intervals be fo temper’d,

as

9 o Conjectures concerning

Booki.as tovary from their ufual Proports-
v<v^ ons, and thereby to bear a little this
way or that, in order to regulate the
Scale. And why this Temperature is
beft in the Sy ftem of the Strings, when
out of the Fifth the fourth Part of a
Comma is ufually cut off ^ This fame
thing I have formerly fhe w’d at large.

But tor the regulating the Tone of
the Voice (as I before hinted) that may
admit of a more eafy proof, and we fhall
give you an Effay of it, fince I have
mentioned a thing that is not mere I-
magination only : I fay therefore, if
any Perfon ftrike thofe Sounds which
the Muficiansdiftinguifh by thefe Let¬
ters, C, F, D,G,C, by thefe agreeable
Intervals, altogether perfed, inter¬
changeable, afcending and descending
with the Voice : Now this latter found
C will be one Comma, or very fmall j
portion lower than the firft founding of
C. Becaufe of thefe perfed Intervals,
which are as 4 to 3, $ to 6, 4 to 3,

2 to 3, an account is made in fuch a
Proportion, as 160 to 162. that is, as
80 to 81, which is what they call a
Comma. So that if the fame Sound

fliould

the Planetary Worlds . 9 i

filould be repeated nine times, theBooki*
Voice would fall near the Matter a
greater Tone, whofe proportion is as
8 to 9. But this the Senfeof the Ears
by no means endures, but remembers
the firft Tone, and returns to it again.
Therefore we are compelfd to ule an
i occult Temperament, and to fmg thefe
t imperfeft Intervals, from doing which
I lefs Offence arifes. And for the moft
[ part, all Singing wants this Tempera-
; ment, as may be collefted by the afore*

!: faid Computations. And thefe things
we have offer’d to thofe that have
iome Knowledge in Geometry.

We have (poke of thefe Arts and
Inventions, which it is very probable
1 the Inhabitants of the Planets partake
of in common with us, befides which
it feems requifite to take in many other
Things that ferve either for the Ufe or
Pleafure of their Lives. But what
thefe Things are we fhall the better ac¬
count for, by laying before us many of
thofe Things which are found among
us. I have before mention’d the Varie¬
ty of Animals and Vegetables, which
very much differ from each other,

G among;

9 a Conjectures concerning

Book i. among which there are fome that dif-
fer but little ; and I have faid, that
there are no lefs differences in thefe
Things in the Planetary Worlds.

I ihall now take a fhort view of the
Benefits we receive both from thofe
Herbs and Animals, and fee whether
we may not with very good reafon con¬
clude that the Planetary Inhabitants
reap as great and as many from thofe
that their Countries afford them.

And here it may be worth our while
to take a Review of the Variety and
Multitude of our Riches. For Trees i
and Herbs do not only ferve us for
Food, they in their delicious Fruits,
thefe in their Seeds, Leaves and Roots •
but Herbs moreover furnifh us with
Phy fick, and Trees with Timber for
our Houfes and Ships. Flax, by the
means of thofe two ufeful Arts of \
Spinning and Weaving, affords us !
Clothing. Of Hemp or Matweed ;l
we twift our felves Thread and fmall j
Ropes, the former of which we em¬
ploy in Sails and Nets, the latter in
making larger Ropes for Mails and l
Anchors. With the fweet Smells and 1

beau-

the Planetary Worlds * 9 3

beauteous Colours of Flowers we feaft Books©
our Senfes : and even thofe of them
that offend our Noftrils, or are mif- vantages
chievous to our Bodies, are feldom reaP .
without excellent Ufes : or were mad Q^ndAnP
perhaps by Nature as a Foil to fet off,
and make us the more value the Good
by comparing them with thefe. What k
vaft Advantages and Profit do we reap
from the Animals? The Sheep give us
Clothing, and the Cows afford us
Milk: and both of them their FJeih
for our Suftenance. ' Affes, Camels,
and Horfes do, what if we wanted
them we muff do our felves, carry
our Burdens ; and the laft of them we
make ufe of, either themfelves to car¬
ry us, or in our Coaches to draw us*

In which we have lb excellent, fo ufe-
ful an Invention of Wheels, that I
can’t fuppofe the Planets to enjoy Soci¬
ety and all its Confequences, and be
without them. Whether they are Py¬
thagoreans there, or feed upon Fleffi
as we do, I dare not affirm any Thing*

Tho’ it fee ms to be allowed Men to
feed upon whatfoever may afford them
Norn iffi men t, either on Land, or in

G 2 Wa-

j

9 4 Conjectures concerning

Book i. Water, upon Herbs, and Pomes, Milk,
Eggs, Honey, Fifh, and no lefs upon
the Flefh of many Birds and Beafts.
But it is a furprifing thing! that a ra¬
tional Creature Ihould live upon the
Ruin and Deftruftion of fuch a num¬
ber of other his Fellow-Creatures ! And
yet it does not feem at all unnatural,
fince not only he, but even Lions,
Wolves, and other ravenous Beafts,
prey upon Flocks of other harmlefs
Things, and make mere Fodder of
them \ as Eagles do of Pidgeons and
Hares ; and large Filh of the helplefs
little ones. We have different forts of
Dogs for Hunting, and what our own
Legs cannot, that their Nofe and Legs
can help us to. But the Ufe and Pro¬
fit of Herbs and Animals are not the
only Things they are good for, but they
raife our Delight and Admiration when
we confider their various Forms and
Natures, and enquire into all their dif¬
ferent ways of Generation : Things fo
infinitely multifarious, and fo delight¬
fully amazing, that the Books of na¬
tural Philofophers are defervedly filled
with theirEncomiums. For even in the

very

the Planetary Worlds. py

very Infers, who can but admire the Books,
fix-corner’d Cells of the Bees, or the
artificial Web of a Spider, or the fine
Bag of a Silk- worm, which laft affords
us, with the Help of incredible Indu-
ftry, even Shiploads of foft delicate
Clothing. This is a fhort Summary
of tbofe many profitable Advantages
the animal and herbal World ferve
us with.

But this is not all* The Bowels of
the Earth likewife contribute much to
Man’s Happinefsi For what Art and
Cunning does he employ in finding, in
digging, in trying Metals, and in
melting, refining, and tempering them ?

What Skill and Nicety in beating, And from
drawing or diffolving Gold, fo as with Metals%
inconfiderabie Changes to make every
Thing he pleafes put on that noble
Luftre? Of how many and admirable
Ufes is iron? and how ignorant in all
Mechanical Knowledge were thofe
Nations that were not acquainted with
it, fo as to have no other Arms but
BowsjClubs^ndSpearSjmadeofWood.

There’s one Thing indeed we have,
which it’s a Queftion whether it has

G 3 done

96

Book f. done more harm or good, and that is
Gun-powder made of Nitre and Brim-
ftone. At firft indeed it feem’d as if
we had got a more fecure Defenfe than
former Ages againft ail Ailaults, and
could eafily guard our Towns, by the
wonderful Strength of that Invention,
againft ailhoftile Invafions: but now
we find it has rather encouraged them,
and at the fame time been no fmail Qc-
cafion of the Decay of Valour, by ren-
tiring it and Strength almoft ufelefs in
War. Had the Grecian Emperor who
faid, Virtue was ruin'd only when
Slings and Rams firft came into ufe,
liv’d in our Days, he might well have
complain’d ; efpecially of Bombs, a-
gainft which neither Art nor Nature
is of fufficient Proof : but which lays
every Thing, Caftles and Towers, be
they never fo ftrong, even with the
Ground. If for nothing elfe, yet up¬
on this one account, I think we had
better have been without the Difco ve¬
ry. Yet, when we were talking of
our Difcoveries, it was not to be
pafs’d over, for the Planets too may
have their mifchievous as well as ufe-
ful Inventions; We

Conjectures concerning

the Planetary Worlds . pj

We are happier in the Ufes forBooki.
which the Air and Water ferves us ;
both of which helps us in our Navi¬
gation, and furnifhes us with a Strength
fufficient, without any Labour of our
own, to turn round our Mills and En¬
gines ; Things which are of ufe to us in
fo many different Employments, For
with them we grind our Corn, and
fqueeze out our Oil; with them we
cut Wood, and mill Cloth, and with
them we beat our Stuff for Paper. An
incomparable Invention ! Where the
naftieft ufelefs Scraps of Linen are
made to produce fine white Sheets.

To thefe we may add the late difcove-
ry of Printing, which not only pre-
ferves from Death Arts and Know¬
ledge, but makes them much eafier to
be attained than before. Nor mu ft
we forget the Arts of Engraving and
Painting, which from mean Begin¬
nings have improved to that Excel¬
lence, that nothing that ever fprung
from the Wit of Man can claim Pre¬
eminence to them. Nor is the way
of melting and blowing Glaffes, and
of polifhing and fpreading Quick-filver

G 4 over

Conjectures concerning

Book i. over Looking-Glaffes, unworthy of be-
✓W ing mention’d, nor above all, the admi¬
rable ufes that Glaffes have been put to
in natural Knowledge, fince the Inven¬
tion of the Telefcope and Microfcope.
And no lefs nice and fine is the Art of
making Clocks, feme of which are fo
final! as to be no weight to the Bear¬
er , and others fo exa£t as to meafure
* The ah- out the Time in as fmall Portions as
thor Tth any one can defire: the Improvement
'pendulum of both which the World owes to my
forelocks Inventions.

Trom the i might add much here of the late
difiovenes Difcoveries, moft of them of this A ge
tJ' ^ which have been made in all forts of
Natural Knowledge as well as in Geo-
merry and Aftronomy, as of the
Weight and Spring of the Air, of the
Chymical Experiments that have
fhown us a way of making Liquors
that fhall fhine in the Dark, and with
gentle moving .fhall burn ofthemfelves.
1 might mention the Circulation of
the Blood through the Veins and
Arteries, which was underftood in¬
deed before $ but now, by the help of
the Microfcope, has an ocular de¬
mon-

the Planetary Worlds. pp

monftration in the Tails of fomeBooki.
Fillies : of the Generation of Animals,
which now is found to be perform’d
no other wife than by the Seed of one
of the fame kind ; and that in the
Seed of the Male are difcover’d, by
the help of Glaffes, Millions of fpright-
ly little Animals, which it’s probable
are the very Offspring of the Animals
themfelves : a furprifing thing, and
never before now known 1

Thus have I put together all The pl*-
the fe late Difcoveries of our Earth
and now, tho’ perhaps fome of them thefefame ,
may be common to the Planetary In
habitants with us, yet that they fhould venlions, ,
have all of them is not credible. But
then they may have fomewhat to make
up that Defeft, others as good and as
ufeful, and as wonderful, that we want.

We have allow’d that they may have
rational Creatures among them, and
Geometricians, and Muficians: We
have prov’d that they live in Societies,
have Hands and Feet, are guarded
with Houfes and Walls : Wherefore if
a Man could be carried thither by fome
powerful Genius, fome Mercury, l don’t

doubt

too Conjectures concerning

Booki. doubt ’t would be a very curious fight,

V'Vv* curious beyond all Imagination, to fee \i
the odd ways, and the unufual manner jj
of their fetting about any thing, and
their ftrange methods of living. But
fince there’s no hopes of our going
fuch a Journey, we muft be content- 1
ed with what’s in our Power : we
may fuppofe our felves there, and in¬
quire as far as we can into the Aftro-
nomy of each Planet, and fee in what
manner the Heavens prefent them-
felves to their Inhabitants. We fhall
make fome Obfervations of the Emi¬
nence of each of them, in refpeQ: of
their Magnitude, and number of
Moons they have to wait on them j
and fhall propofe a new Method of
coming to fome Knowledge of the in¬
credible diftance of the fix’d Stars.
But firft after this long and deep
Thoughtfulnefs we will give our felves
a little Reft, and fo put an end to this
Book.

New

101

the Planetary Wi orlds.

M . Book 2."

eel JSiezo Conjectures concerning the

Planetary Worlds.

j|

BOOK the Second,

v WAS a pretty many Years
JL ago that I chanc’d to light
; upon Athanaftus KjrcheAs Book, call’d
j Toe Ecflatkk Journey , .which treats of
the nature of the Stars, and of the
Things that are to be found in the Su-
| perficies of the Planets: I wondered to
I fee nothing there of what I had often
I thought not improbable, but quite
« other Things, nothing but a Heap of
idle unreafonable Stuff : which I was
the more confirm’d in, when, after the
writing of the former part,I ran over the
Book again. And I thought mine were
very confiderable and weighty Mat¬
ters if compar’d with/Or^r’s. That
other People may be fatisfied in this,
and fee how vainly thofe, who caft off
the only Foundations of Probability in
fuch Matters, which we have all the
way made ufe of, pretend to philofo-

phize

102 Conjectures concerning

Book 2. phize in this cafe, f think it will not .
be befide the Purpofe to beftow fome.
few Refleftions upon that Book.

KirdierV That ingenious Man fuppofmg him-

EcflZyVx^ carried by fome Angel thro’ the,
vaft Spaces of Heaven, and round the:
Stars, tells us, he faw a great many?
things, fome of which he had out of
the Books of Aftronomers, the reft are
the Product of his own Fancy and
1 houghts. But, before he enters up¬
on his Journey, he lays down thefe two
Things as certain j that no Motion,
muft be allowed the Earth, and that:
God has made nothing in the Planets,
no not fo much as Herbs, which has
either Life or Senfe in it. Leaving
then the Syftem of Copernicus, he chu- -
fes Tycho for his Guide. But when
lie iuppofes all the fix’d Stars to be i
Suns, and round each of them places 1
their Planets, here (againft his Will I
iuppofe) he has unawares made an in¬
finite number of Copernican Syftems.
All which, befide their own Motion,
he abfurdly makes to be carried, with
an incredible fwiftnefs, in twenty four
Hours round the Earth. Since nioft

oi

the Planetary Worlds. io|

idf thefe Worlds are out of the Reach Book:iJ
lof any Man’s fight, as he owns they
ijare, I cannot think for what purpofe
:he makes fo many Suns to fhine upon
idefolate Lands (like our Earth in every
thing, he fays, only that they have nei¬
ther Plants nor Animals) where there’s
) no one to w horn they fhould give light.
jAnd from hence he ftill falls into more
land more Abfurdities. And becaufe
> he could find no other ufe of the Pla~
inets, even in ourSyftem, he is forc’d
::to beg Help of the Aftrologers \ and
[would have all thole vaft Bodies made
[ upon no other account than that the
[whole , Univerfe might be prelerved
l and continue fee u re by their means*
land that they might govern the Mind
; of Man by their various and regular
i Influences. Accordingly, to gratify
( Aftrology, he fays that Venus was the
imoll pleafant Place, every thing fine
and handfome, its Light gentle, its
) Waters fweet and purling, and it felf
ibefet all about with fhining Chryftals.

In Jupiter he found whole feme and
'fweet Gales, delicate Waters, and a
i Land fhining like Silver. For from

thefe

io4 Conjectures

Book2.thefe two Planets it feems, Men have

^V’Vall that is happy and healthful poured
down upon them ; and all that renders
them handfome and lovely, wife and!
grave, is owing to their Influences.
Mercury had I don’t know what Airi-
nefs and Brisknefs in it ^ whence Mem
derive, when they are firft born, all
their Wit and Cunning. Mars was nor¬
thing but infernal, flunking, blacki
Flames and Smoke : and Saturn was all .
melancholy, dreadful, nafty , and dark :
for thefe are the Planets (I don’t know
why, but all Fortune-tellers hate them}
that bring all the Plagues and Mifchiefssli
that we feel upon us, and would exer-
cife their Spite ftiil more, unlefs they/
were fometimes mitigated and correct¬
ed by the benign and kind Influences
of the other Planets. All this and fuchi
like Stuff his Genius teaches him.j
Which he makes give a ferious An-
fwer to this idle Queftion, Whether a
jew or Heathen could be duly and
rightly baptized in the Waters of Ve*
mis ? Of him too he learns that the
Heaven of the fix’d Stars is not made;
of folid Matter, but of a thin fluid, .

where-

the Planetary Worlds. ioy

wherein an innumerable company of Book 2.
Stars and Sans lie floating here and
there, not chain’d down to any Place,
j (thus far he’s in the right) and defcri-
bing in the Space of a Day thefe pro¬
digious Circles round the Earth. He
1 forgets here, if there werefuch a Mo*

I tion,with what an incredible fwiftnefs
t they would fly off from every part of
: their Orbits. But I fbppofe the In-
! telligences that he has plac’d in them
are to take care of that, thofe Angels
that prefide over, and' regulate their
Motions. And in that he follows a
company of Doftors that harbour’d
that idle fancy o {Ariftotle upon no Ac¬
count or Confideration. But Coperni¬
cus has freed thofe Intelligences of all
that Labour and Trouble, only by
bringing in the Motion of the Earth :
which, if upon no other Account, eve¬
ry one that is not blind purpofcly, muft
own to be neceffary upon this. 1 dare
fay Kjrcher , if he had dar’d freely to
fpeak his Mind, could have afforded
us better fort of Things than thefe.

But when he could not have that li¬
berty, I think he might as well have

io<5 Conjectures concerning

Book2.1et the whole Matter alone. But e-
nough of this j let’s have have done
with this famous Author : And now
that we have ventur’d to place Specta¬
tors in the Planets, let us examine each
of them, and fee what their Years,
Days, and Aftronomy are.

TheSyftem To begin with the innermoft and

6lauil<l~ neareft the Sun : We know that Mer-

Mercury. cury is three times nearer that vaft Bo¬
dy of Light than we are. Whence it
follows that they fee him three times
bigger, and feel him nine times hotter
than we do. Such a degree of Heat
would be intolerable to us, and fet a-
fire all our dry’d Herbs, our Hay and
Straw that we ufe. And yet there is
no doubt but that the Animals there,
are made of fuch a Temper, as to be
but moderately warm, and the Plants
fuch as to be able to endure the Heat.
The Inhabitants of Mercury , it’s likely,
have the fame opinion of us that we
have of Saturn , that we mull be intol-
lerably cold, and have little or no Light,
we are fo far from the Sun. There’s rea-
fon to doubt, whether the Inhabitants
of Mercury, tho’ they live fo much near¬
er

the Planetary Worlds. 107

'

jj fer the Sun, the Fountain of Life and Vi- Book 2.
jj gour, are much more airy and ingeni-
> ous than we. For if we may guefs at
them by what we fee here, we {hall
not be obliged to grant it The Inha¬
bitants of Africa and Brafil , that have
got for their Share the hotteft Places
in the Earth, being neither fo wife nor
lb induftrious as thofe chat belong to
colder and more temperate Climates j
they have fcarce any Arts orKnowledge
among them ; and thofe of them that
live upon the very Shore, understand
little or no Navigation. Nor can I be
willing to make all that vaft number
that mud inhabit thofe two large Pla¬
nets, Jupiter and Saturn^ and have luch
noble Attendance, mere dull Block¬
heads, or without as much Wit as our
Selves, tho’ they are fofar more diftant
from the Sun. The Aftronomy of thofe
that live in Mercury , and the appear¬
ance of the Planets to them, oppofite
at certain times to the Sun, may be
eafily conceived by the Scheme of the
Cofern ican Syftem in the former
Part. At the times of thefe Oppofiti-
ons Venus and the Earth rauft needs

H ap*

io8

Book2. appear very bright and large to them.,
i/YV For if Venus fhines fo glorioufly to us,
when file is new and horned, fhe mud;
neceflarily in oppofitioh to the Sun,,
when fhe is fill], be at leaft fix or fe-
ven times larger, and a great deall
nearer to the Inhabitants of Mercury,,
and afford them Light fo ftrong and!
bright, that they have no reafon too
complain of their want of a Mooflv,
What the Length of their Days are, or'
whether they have different Sealonsi
in the Year, is not yet difcovered, be¬
cause we have not yet been able to ob-
ferve whether his Axis have any incli¬
nation to his Orbit, or what Time be;
fpends in his diurnal Revolution about:
his own Axis. And yet feeing Marsy
the Earth, Jupiter and Saturn , have;,
certainly fuch Succeffions, there’s no*
reafon to doubt but that he has his 1
Days and Nights as well as they. But
his Year is fcarce the fourth part fo >;
long as ours.

The Inhabitants of Venus have much
the fame Face of Things as thofe in
Mercury 9 only they never fee him in
oppofition to the Sun, which is occa-

fioned

Conjectures concerning

the Planetary Worlds. i o p

fioned by his never removing above Book 2.'
38 degrees, or thereabouts, from it, ts~v~sj
The Sun appears to them larger by
half in his Diameter, and above
twice in his Circumference, than to
us : and by confequence affords them
but twice as much Light and Heat, fo
that they are nearer our Temperature
than Mercury. Their Year is com-
pleated in feven and a half of our
Months, fn the Night our Earthj
when ’tis on the other fide of the Sun
from Venus , mull needs feem much
larger and lighter to Venus than fhe
doth ever to us ; and then they may
eafily fee, if their Eyes be not weaker
than ours, our conftant Attendant the
Moon. 1 have often wonder’d that
when I have view’d Venus when Hie is
neareil to the Earth, and refembled an
Half-moon, juft beginning to have
fomething like Horns, through a Te-
lefcope of 4 5 or 60 Foot long, fhe al¬
ways appeared to me all over equally
lucid, that I can’t fay I obferved fo
much as one Spot in her, tho’ in Jupi¬
ter and Mars, which feem much iefs
to us, they are very plainly perceiv’d.

H 2 For

1 1 6 Conjectures concerning

Book 2. For if Venus had any fuch Thing as Sea; 3

wyw and Land, the former muft neceffarily
fliow much more obfcure than the: I
other, as anyone may fatisfy himfelf, !
that from a very high Mountain will
but look down upon our Earth. If
thought that perhaps the too brisk;
Light of Venus might be theoccafioni
of this equal appearance ; but when I
ufed an Eye-glafs that wasfmok’d for
the Purpofe,it was ftill the fameThing.
What then, has Venus no Sea, or do the
Waters there refletf the Light more
than ours do, or their Land lefs ? Or
rather (which is mod probable in my
Opinion) is not all that Light we fee
reflected from an Atmofphere fur¬
rounding Venus, which being thicker
and more folid than that in Mars or
Jupiter, hinders our feeing any thing
of the Globe it felf, and is at the fame r
time capable of fending back the Rays
that it receives from the Sun } For it
is certain that if we looked on the
Earth from the outfide of the At¬
mofphere, we fhould not perceive
fuch a difference as we do from a
Mountain j but by reafon of the inter-

pofed

Ill

the Planetary Worlds.

pofed Atmofphere, we fhould obferve Books,
very little Difparity between Sea and
Land. ’Tisthe fame Thing that hin¬
ders us from feeing the Spots in the
Moon as plain in the Day as in the
Night, becaufe the Vapours that fur-
round the Earth being then enlightned
by the Rays of the Sun, are an Impe¬
diment to our Profpeft.

But Mars , as I faid before, has fome m um .
Parts of him darker than other fome*

By the conftant Returns of which his
Nights and Days have been found to be
of about the fame length with ours.

But the Inhabitants have no perceiva¬
ble Difference between Summer and
Winter, the Axis of that Planet having
very little or no Inclination to his Orbits
as has been difcover’d by the Motion
of his Spots. Our Earth muff appear
to them a! mo ft as Venus doth to us, and
by the Help of a Telelcope will be
found to have its Wane, Increafe, and
Full, like the Moon : and never to re¬
move from the Sun above 48 Degrees^
by whofe Difcovery they fee it, as well
as Mercury and Venus , fometimes pafs
over the Sun’s Disk. They as feldom fee

H 5 Venus

1 1 % Conjectures concerning

Books. Venus as we do Mercury. 1 am apt to
UYV believe, that the Land in Mars is of a
blacker Colour than that of Jupiter or
the Moon, which is the reafon of his
appearing of a Copper Colour, and his
reflecting a weaker Light than is pro¬
portionable to his distance from the
Sun. His Body, as I obferved before,
the’ farther from the Sun, is lefs than
Venus. Nor has he any Moon to wait
upon him, and in that, as well as Mer¬
cury and Venus , he mult be acknow¬
ledged inferiour to the Earth. His
Light and Heat is twice, and feme-
times three times lefs than ours, to
which 1 fuppofe the Conftitution of
Ills Inhabitants is anfwerable.

Jupiter If our Earth can claim pre-eminence

the fore- mention'd Planets, for ha-
m'tnent o/v ing a Moon to attend upon it, (for \
tbePia- jts Magnitude can make but a fmall
for %»^dmerence) how much buperiour mult
and atten-*Jupiter and Saturn be to thofe three
dams. ancj t{je Earth alfo ? For whether we
oonfider their Bulk, in which they far
exceed all the others, or the Number of
Moons that wait upon them, it's very
probable that they are the chief* the

P«-

the Planetary Worlds, 1 1 3

primary Planets in our Syftem, in Books,
companion with which the other four o'YVJ
are nothing, and Icarce worth menti¬
oning. For the eafier Conception of
their vaft Difparity, I have thought fit
to add a Scheme of our Earth, with
the Moon’s Orbit, and the Globe of
the Moon itfelf, and the Syftems of
Jupiter and Saturn 9 where I haver^. 3;
drawn every thing as near the true
Proportion as poflible* Jupiter you
fee is adorned with four, and Saturn
with five Moons, all placed in their re-
fpeftive Orbits. The Moons about Ju¬
piter we owe to Galileo, his well
known : and any one may imagine he
was in no fmall Rapture at the JDifco-
very. The outermoft but one, and
brighteft of Saturn s Jit chanc'd to be my
lot, with a Telefcope not above 1 2 foot
long, to have the firft fight of in the
Year 1655. The reft we may thank
the induftrious Cajjini for, who ufed the
Glades of JofCampanus's grinding, firft
of 56, and afterwards of 1 36 foot long.

He has often, and particularly in the
Year 1672, ftiew’d me the Third and
Fifth. The Firft and Second he gave

H 4 me

H4

Conjectures concerning

Books. me notice of by Letters in the Year
i3/V'X/ 1684 5 but they are fcarct ever to be
feen, and I can’t pofitively fay, I had e-
verthat Happinefs; but am as fatisfied
that they are there, as if I had , not in
the leaft fufpe&ing the Credit of that
worthy Man. Nay, I am afraid there
are One or Two more ftill behind, and
not without reafon. For between the
Fourth and Fifth there’s a Diftance not
at all proportionable to that between
all the others : Here, for ought 1 know,
there may be a Sixth; or perhaps there
may be another without the Fifth that
may yet have efcaped us : for we can
never fee the Fifth but in that part
of his Orbit, which is towards the
Weft : for which we fhall give you a
very good reafon.

Perhaps when Saturn comes into
the Northern Signs, and is at a good
height from the Horizon (for at the
writing of this he is at his lowelt)
you may happen to make fome new
Difcoveries, good Brother, if you
would but make ufe of your two Te-
lefcopes of 170 and 210 Foot long j
the iongelt, and the beft I believe now

the Planetary Worlds .

nf

in the World. For tho’ we have not Book a •
yet had an opportunity of obferving
the Heavens with them (as well by
reafon of their Unweildinefs, as for
the Interruption of our Studies by
your x4bfence) yet I am fatisfied of
their Goodnefs by our trial of them
one Night, in reading a Letter at a vaft
diftance by the Help of a Light. I
cannot but think of thofe times with
Pieafure, and of our diverting Labour
in poliftiingand preparing fuchGlafles,
in inventing nev/ Methods and En¬
gines, and always pulhing forward to
itill greater and greater Things® But
to return to the Figures, of which there
remains fomething further to be faid.

I have there made the Diameter Tkepro-
of Jupiter about two third parts of our?°,rt”n°f
diftance from the Moon : for the Dia-*** o/™-
meterof Jupiter is above twenty times and
bigger than that of the Earth ; which ^ tlpis °sP
is about a thirtieth part of the Moon’s teffltes, to
diftance. The Orbit of the outermoft
of Jupiter ’s Satellites is to that of the round the
Moon round the Earth, as 8 and } is Earth°
to i® And each of thefe Moons, by
the Shadow they make upon Jupiter 9

can-

s i 6 Conjectures concerning

Book2. cannot be lefs than our Earth. Their
Periods, that I may not omit them,
odsof] a- are according to tajjims Account
Piter’* thefe, That of the inmoft is one:

MoonSt day, 1 8 hours, 28 minutes, and 36
feconds* The Second (pends 3 days,
13 hours, 13 min. <52 feconds in
going round him. The Third 7 days,

3 hours, 59 min. 40 fee. The Fourth
1 6 days, 18 hours, 5 min. 6 fee. The
Biftance of the innermoft from Jupiter
himfelf is 2 £ of his Diameters. That
of the Second is 4 and a half : Of the
Third 7 and one fixth part : Of the
Fourth 12 and two thirds, of the fame
Diameters. The Innermoft of Sa«
'And 5a- turn's Satellites moves round him in 1
^urn*’ day, 2 1 hours, 18 min. 3 1 fee. The
Second in 2 days, 17 hours, 41 rain, s
27 fee. The Third in 4 days, 13 1
hours, 47 min. 16 fee. The Fourth
in 15 days, 22 hours, 41 min. 11 fee.
The Fifth 11179 days, 7 hours, 53 min.
57 fee. Their Diftances from the Cen¬
ter of Saturn are, that of the firft al-
moft one, that is 39 fortieth parts of
the Diameter of his Ring ; that of the
fecondone and a quarter of thofe Dia¬
meters j

the Planetary Worlds <

1 17

meters ; of the third one and three Book 2 «
quarters of them , of the fourth four,
or according to my Calculation, but 3
and a half*, of the 5th 12, which
were found with vaft Pains and La¬
bour.

Now can any one look upon, and
compare thefe Syftems together, with¬
out being amazed at the vaft Magni¬
tude and noble Attendance of thefe
two Planets, in refpect of this little
Earth of ours? Or can they force
themfelves to think, that the wife
Creator has difpofed of all his Ani¬
mals and Plants here, has furnifh'd and
adorn’d this Spot only, and has left all
thefe Worlds bare and deftitute of In¬
habitants, who might adore and wor-
fhip him ; or that all thofe prodigious
Bodies were made only to twinkle
to, and be ftudied by fome few per¬
haps of us poor Mortals ?

I do not doubt but there will be This pro-
fome who will think we are very
much miftaken about the Magnitude cording to
of thefe Planets. For will you pretend «*»»»<*»•»
to make them who are taken up in ad- tbm™a~
miring the Largenefs of this Globe,

its

1 1 § Conjectures concerning

Books. its multitude of Nations, Cities, and
Empires *, can you pretend I fay to
make them ever believe that there are
Places in companion of which the
Earth is as inconfiderable as this Fi¬
gure would make it ? But they ought
to be informed, that thefe Proportions
are thofe which the be ft Aftronomers
of this Age have agreed upon. For if
the Earth be diftant from the Sun ten
or eleven thoufand of its own Diame¬
ters, according to the Accounts of Mon-
fieur Cajftni in France , and Mr. Flam -
fted in England, wherein they made
ufe of very exaft Obfervations of the
Parallaxes of Mars; or if, according
to a very probable Conjefture of mine,
it be diftant twelve thoufand, then the
Magnitudes of the other Orbs will ve-

The appa¬
rent mag¬
nitude of
the Sun in
Jupiter,
and a way
of finding
what
Light they
there m-

jey*

vy near anfwer the Proportions here
fettled.

But to return to Jupiter* The Sun
appears to them who are upon it five
times lefs than to us, and confequent-
ly they have but the five and twen*
tieth part of the Light and Heat that
we receive from it. But that Light
is not fo weak as we imagine, as is

plain

the Planetary Worlds. s 19

plain by the Brightnefs of that Planet Books,
in the Night; and alfo from hence,
that when the Sun is fo far eclipfed to
us, as that only the 25th part of his
Disk remains uncovered, he is not
fenfibly darken’d. But if you have a
mind exa£Hy to know the Quantity of
Light that Jupiter enjoys, you may take
a Tube of what Length you pleafe. Let
one end of it be clofed \yith a Plate of
Brafs, or any fuch thing, in the mid¬
dle of which there mult be a Hole,
whofe Breadth muft have the fame
proportion to the length of the Tube,
as the Chord of 6 Minutes bears to the
Radius 5 that is, about as one is to 570*

Let the Tube be turned fo to the Sun,
that no Light may fall upon a white
Paper placed at the End of it, but what
comes through the little Hole at the
other end of the Tube. The Rays
that comes through this will reprefent
the Sun upon the Paper of the fame
Brightnefs that the Inhabitants of
Jupiter fee it in a clear Day* And if
removing the Paper you place your
Eye in the fame Place, you will fee the
Sun of the fame Magnitude and

Bright-

i

©

120

ConjeBures concerning

Book2.Brightnefs as you would were you in
Jupzter.

And in If you make the Hole twice as little

Saturn. breadth, you will fee the fame in
Saturn, And altho5 his Light be but
the hundredth part of ours, yet you
fee it makes him fhine tolerably bright
in a dark Night. But in both thefe
Planets, if there ever be any cloudy
Days, it mult be very dark in compa-
rifon of us ; yet without doubt the
Inhabitants have no more reafon to
complain of the want of Light, than
our Owls and Batts, to whom the
Twilight or the Night itfelf is more
agreeable than the Brightnefs of the
Day.

in Jupiter But iris a little ftrange, that when

their days js f0 much bigger than our Pla-

&T6 fl'ZJG L C'O

Hours . net, their Days and Nights fhould be

but five of our Hours. By this we
may fee that Nature lias not obferv’d
that proportion that their Bulk fee ms
to require, feeing in Mars the Days are
very little different from ours. But in
the length of their Years, that is, in the
Revolution of the Planets round the
Sun, there is an exa£t proportion to

their

the Planetary Worlds. t it

heir diftances from the Sun followed. Books,’
For as the Cubes of their Diftances, fo '^V>!
are the Squares of their Revolutions,
as Kjpier firft found out. Which pro¬
portion the Moons of Jupiter and Sa-
turn keep in their Courfes round thofe
Planets. As the Years and Days in Always &f
Jupiter are different from ours in this the
refpe£t, fo are the Days in another; len& *
namely, that they are all of the fame
length. For they there enjoy a perpe¬
tual Equinox, their Axis having little
or no inclination to their Orbit, as the
Earth’s has, as has been difcovered by
Telefcopes. The Countries that lie
near their Poles have little or no Heat^
by reafon the Rays of the Sun fall fo
obliquely upon them ; but then they
are freed from the Inconveniency that
ours are troubled with, of tedious long
half-year Nights, and have the con*
ftant returns of Day and Night every
five Hours- Indeed fuch fhort Days
would not be agreeable to us, but we
think our felves much better done by,
that ours are more than twice as long,
tho’ upon no other account, but that
whatever is our own, we are apt to
imagine, muff be belt. The

tii

Books. The reft of the Planets are fo near
%^V"Wthe Sun ( Mars himfelf never being
above iS degrees from it) that in Ju¬
piter they have the fight only of Sa¬
turn e But we cannot deny but that
their four Moons ftand them in greater
(lead than our one doth us, if Were
only that they feldOm know any fuch
Thing as to be without Moonfhiny
Nights. And they are of great Advan¬
tage to them, as we faid before, in
their Navigation, if they have any
fuch thing. Not to mention the plea-
fant Sights of their frequent Conjun¬
ctions and Eclipfes, Things that they
are feldom a Day without.

Saturn enjoys all thofe Pleafures and
Advantages in a {till higher Degree, as
well for his five Moons, as for the de¬
lightful ProfpeCt that the Ring about
him affords his Inhabitants Night and
Day. But we will give an account
of their Aftronomy, as we have done
of the reft of the Planets.

They fee And firft of all we fhall obferve
the fix'd what we might have remark’d before,
ITwJda, but which will be more ft range here,
that the fix’d Stars appear to them of

the

Conjectures concerning

. s

the Planetary Worlds. i % ■$

the fame Figure and Magnitude* and Books;
with the fame degree of Light that they
do to us : and this, by reafon of their
immenfe diftance, of which we {hall
have occafion to fpeak by and by. In
comparifon with which the Space
that a Bullet-fhot out of a Gannon
could travel in 2.5 Years* wouid be
almoft nothing.

Their Aftronomers have all the
fame Signs of the Bear, the Lion* O-
rion, and the reft, but not turning up¬
on the fame Axis with us : for that’s
different in all the Planets*

•v* •

As Jupiter can fee no Planet but Sa¬
turn, fo Saturn knows of no Planet
but Jupiter ; which appears to him
much as Venus doth to us, never re¬
moving above 37 Degrees from the
1 Sun. The Length of their Days I can-
; not determine : But if from the Di-
: ftance and Period of his innermoft At¬
tendant, and comparing it with the
innermoft of Jupiter' s, a Man may
venture to give a Guefs, they are very
little different from Jupiter's, 10 Hours
or fomewhat lefs. But whereas in
Jupiter thefe are equally divided be-

I tween

f*4

Book2.

v/VV

Conjectures concerning

tween Light and Darknefs, the Inha¬
bitants of Saturn muft perceive a more
fenfible difference than we, efpecially
between Summer and Winter. For our
Axis inclines to the Plane of the Eclip-
tick but 2 3 degrees and a half but there’s
above 31: Upon this Account his
Moons muft decline very much from
the Path that the Sun feems to move
in, and his Inhabitants can never have j
a full Moon but juft at the Equinoxes *
Two of which fall out in 30 of our
Years* 5Tis this Pofition of the Axis j
too that is the Caufe of thofe delight¬
ful Appearances, and wonderful Prof-
pefts that its Inhabitants enjoy : For
the better underftanding of which I
lhall draw a Figure of Saturn with
his Ring about him : in which the
Proportion between the Diameters of
the Globe and Ring is as 9 to 4. And 1
the empty Space between them is of
the fame Breadth with the Ring itfelf. J
All Oblervationsconfpire to prove that 1
That is of no great Thicknefs, altho’ if ii
we fhould allow it fix hundred Ger - •
wan Miles, I think, confidering its
Diameter, we fihould not overdo the
Matter* Sur »

/

' v&v.*

■ ■

v.'.y • • •>

■ ’ •; * * '

■. v-' •. v

• • ' ■'

tv. -., ■•■vy V

i',: :

* '*r

■5’

V

Saturn us

. ' A

X

^/\iruL

Worlds.

Suppofe then, agreeable to what has Books."
been faid, the Globe of Saturn ,
whofe Poles are A, B. GN is the F^' 4m
Diameter of the Ring, as you view it
Tideways, reprefenting a narrow O-
val. Thofe that live about the Poles
within the Arches CAD, E B F,
each of which are 54 Degrees, (if
the Cold will fuffer any Body to live
there) never have a Sight of the Ring.

From all other parts it is continually to rhe
be feen for fourteen Years and nine^j^C
Months, which is juft half their Year, in Saturn.
The other Half it is hid from their
View. Thofe then that dwell between
the Polar Circle C D, and the Equator
T V, all that time that the Sun en¬
lightens the Part oppofite to them;
have every Night the Sight of a Piece
of it H G L, much in the Shape of a
fhining Bow, which comes from the
Horizon, but is darken’d in the Mid¬
dle by the Shadow of Saturn G H,
which reaches mod commonly to the
outermoft Rim of itl But after Mid¬
night that Shadow by little and little
begins to move towards the right Hand
to thofe in the Northern, but the Left

I 2 to

i a 6 Conjectures concerning

Book 2. to thofe in the Southern Hemifphere.
In the Morning it difappears, leaving
behind it a Likenefs indeed of a Bow,
but much paler and weaker than our
Moon is in the Day time. For they,
as I faid before, have an Atmofphere,
or an Air lurrounding them enlighten’d
by the Sun. Otherwife Night and
Day they would have their Ring,
their Moons, and all the fix’d Stars,
equally confpicuous. Another thing
that muft make the Sight of their Ring
very curious, is, that by fome Spots in
It, it is difcover’d to turn round upon
it felf: A thing that thofe that are fo
near cannot but take notice ofj when
we that live at this Diftance can defcry
a great Inequality, the infide of it be¬
ing brighter much than the outfide is.
When the Shadow of the Globe falls
upon that part of the Ring G H, the
Shadow of the Ring at the fame time
darkens another Part of the Globe a-
bout PF, which otherwife would have
the Sun upon ir. So that there is
always a Zone of the Globe P Y F E,
fometimes of a larger extent than at
others, which is depriv’d of the Sight

both

the Planetary Worlds. i ij

both of the Sun and Ring for a confi- Books,
derable time, the latter of which hides
fome part of the Stars from it too. And
certainly an amazing Thing it mu ft
be, all of a fudden to have the Sun in¬
tercepted and to become as dark as
Midnidght, without feeing any Caufe
of fuch an Accident. All which
time their Moons are their only Com¬
fort. The other half of the Year
the Hemifphere T B V enjoys the
fame Light that T A U before did,
and then this undergoes thofe long E-
clipfes that That before fuffer’d. At
the Equinoxes, when the Sun is in the
fame Plane with the Ring, the Inhabi¬
tants of Saturn cannot well perceive it:
no not even we with our Glades, by
reafon of its Darknefs. This happens
when Saturn , view’d from the Sun, is
advanced one and twenty degrees and
a half in Virgo or Pifces , as I have
fhow’d formerly in my Syftem of Sa¬
turn: Where there is an Account gi¬
ven of the Ridings of the Sun above
the Ring, throughout all the Satur¬
nian Year.

With

Conjectures concerning

Books. With Saturn in this Scheme you
wYv have the Globes of the Earth and
Moon drawn in their true proportion,
to put you in mind again of a Thing
worth remembring, viz. how very
fmall our Habitation is when compar’d
with that Globe or the Ring about it.
And now any one, I fuppofe, can
frame to himfelf a Pifture of the
Night in Saturn, with two Arches of
the Ring, and five Moons fhining
about, and adorning him. This then
is what I had to fay to the primary
Planets.

We are now come a little lower, to
make an enquiry into the Attendants
of thefe Planets, efpecially our own.
And here we fhall not only confider
their Aftronomy, but fhall alfo fearch
into their Furniture and Ornament,
if they are found to have any fuch
thing, which we have deferred confi-
dering till now.

fs"be fafd 3lerc one would think that

the when the Moon is fo near us, and by
Mom. the Means of a Telefcope may be fo
nicely and exactly obferv’d, it fhould
afford us Matter for more probable

“ Con-

the Planetary Worlds. 1 19

Conjectures than any of the other re* Books,
mote Planets. But it is quite other-
wife, and I can fcarce find any thing
to fay of it, becaufe I have not a Pla¬
net of the fame Nature before my Eyes,
as in all the primary ones l have. For
they are of the fame kind with our
Earth •, and feeing all the ACtions, and
every thing that is here, we may make
a reafonable Conjecture at what we
cannot fee in thofe Worlds. \

But this we may venture to fay, The
without fear, that all the Attendants */
of Jupiter and Saturn are of the fameSsa-
Nature with our Moon, as going round turn °f ^
them, and being carried with them;^
round the Sun juft as the Moon is with our Moon .
the Earth. Their Likenefs reaches to
other Things too, as you’ll fee by and
by. Therefore whatfoever we can
withreafon affirm or conjecture ofour
Moon (and we may fay a little of it)
muft be fuppos’d with very little Alte¬
ration to belong to the Satellites of Ju¬
piter and Saturn , as having no reafon
to be at all inferior to that.

The Surface of the Moon then is The Mem
found, by the lea ft Telefcopes of about

I 4 th VCCtaiiit,

1 5 © Conjectures concerning

Bookz. three or tour Foot, to be diverfified
U'VN* with long Trafts of Mountains, and
again with broad Valleys. For in
thofe Parts oppofite to the Sun you
fnay fee the Shadows of the Moun¬
tains, and often difcover the little
round V alleys between them, with a
Hillock or two perhaps rifing out of
them. Kjpler from the exafit round-
nefs of them would prove that they
are fome vaft work of the rational
Inhabitants. But I can’t be of his
mind, both for their incredible Large-
nefs, and that they might eafily be
occafioned by natural Caufes. Nor
can I find any thing like Sea there,
tho’ he and many others are of the con¬
trary Opinion I know. For thofe vaft
Countries which appear darker than
the other, commonly taken for and
called by the Names of Seas, are difco-
ver’d with a good long Telefcope, to
be full of little round Cavities ; whofe
Shadow falling within themfelves,
makes them appear of that Colour :
and thofe large Champains there in the
Moon you will find not to be always
even and frnooth, if you look carefully

the Planetary Worlds. 131

upon them : neither of which two Books.
Things can agree to the Sea, There- ‘
fore thole Plains in her that leem
brighter than the other Parts, mu ft
confift, I fuppofe, of a whiter fort of
Matter than they. Nor do I believe
that there are any Rivers, for if there mr ?w
were, they could never efcape our^n*
Sight, efpecially if they run between
the Hills as ours do. Nor have they
any Clouds to furnifti the Rivers with Nor
Water: For if they had, we fhould c/r/Ws’
fometimes fee one part of the Moon
darken’d by them, and fometimes
another, whereas we have always the
fame Profpedt of her.

’Tis certain moreover, that the^^»
Moon has no Air or Atmofphere {m^an^ateK
rounding it as we have. For then we
could never fee the very outermoft
Rim of the Moon fo exaftly as we do,
when any Star goes under it, but its
Light would terminate in a gradual
faint Shade, and there would be a fort
of a Down as it were about it; not to
mention that the Vapours of our At¬
mofphere confift of Water, and con-
fequently that where there are no Seas

or

es concerning

Books. or Rivers, there can be no Atmof-
phere. This is that notable difference
between the Moon and us that hin¬
ders all probable Conje&ures about it.
If we could but once be fure that there
were Seas and Rivers in it, it would be
no weak Argument to prove that it has
alio all other Furniture which belongs
to our Earth, and the Opinion of Xe¬
nophanes might be true, that it has its
Inhabitants, Cities, and Mountains.
But as \is} I cannot imagine how any
Plants or Animals, whofe whole nou-
rifhment comes from liquid Bodies,
can thrive in a dry, waterlefs, parch’d
Soil.

The con - What then, Is it credible that this
jetiun of great Ball was made for nothing but

and Ani- to give us a little Light in the Night-
tnaU very time, or to raife our Tides in the Sea ?
dubious, jyjay tjlsre not ge f0 me People there

that may have the Pleafure of feeing
our Earth turn upon itfelf, prefenting
them! lometimes with a Profpe£t of
Europe and Africa , and then of Afia
and America ; fometimes half of it
bright, and fometimes full ? And muff
all thofe Moons round Jupiter and Sa¬
turn

the Planetary Worlds. 133

turn be condemned to the fame Ufe-Book2®
iefnefs ? I do not know what to fay
concerning it, becaufe I know of no¬
thing like them to found a Conjecture
upon. And yet kis not improbable
that thofe great and noble Bodies
have fomewhat or other growing and
living upon them, though very dif¬
ferent from what we fee and enjoy
here. Perhaps their Plants and Ani¬
mals may have another fort of Non-
rifhment there. Perhaps the Moifture
of the Earth there is but juft fufficient
to caufe a Mift or Dew, which may
be very fuitable to the G rowth of their
Herbs. This I remember is Plutarch9 s
Opinion, in his Dialogue upon this
Subje£t. For in our Earth a very
little Water drawn from the Sea into
Dew, and falling down again upon
the Herbs, would be fufficient for all
our Needs, without any Rain or Show¬
ers. But thefe are mere Gueffes, or
rather Doubts, but yet they are the
beft we can make oft his, and all thofe Jupiter^
other Moons : for, as I faid before, they
are all of the fame nature, which is Moomturn
proved likewife by this, that as our

Moon to them •

1 54 Con^Ctures concerning

Book2.Moon can afford us the Sight never

l/Y\;but of one Side of her, fothey turn al¬
ways the fame Face to their primary
Planets. It may perhaps feem ftrange,
how we fhould come to know this ; but
’tis no hard matter, after that Obfer-
vation which I juft now made, that
the outermoft of Saturn's Moons can
never be feen but when fhe is on the
Weft- fide of her Planet. The reafon
of which is plainly this, that one Side
of her is darker, and does not reflett
the Light fo much as the other, which
when it is turned towards us, we can¬
not fee by reafon of its weak Light.
This always happening when ’tis Eaft
of him, and never on the other Side, is
a manifeft proof that fhe always keeps
the fame Side toward Saturn. Now
fince the outermoft of Saturn’s and our
Moon carry themfelves thus to the
Planets round which they move, who
can well doubt it of all the reft round
Jupiter and Saturn ? And there’s a
very good reafon for it, namely, that
the matter of which thofe Moons con-
fift, being heavier, and more folid on
the Side that is averfe from us, than on

that

the Planetary Worlds. i 3 $

that which we have the Sight of, doesBooka.
confequently fly with a greater force
from the Centre of its Orbit : for other-
wife, according to the Laws ofMotion,
it fhould turn the fame Side always, not
to its Planets, but to the fame fix’d Stars.

This Pofition of the Moons, in re-
fpeQ: of their Planets, muft occafion a
great many very furprizing Appear¬
ances to their Inhabitants, if they
have any, which is very doubtful,
but may for the prefent be fuppos’d.

An enquiry into our Moon may ferve
for all the reft. Its Globe is divided
into two Parts, in fuch a manner, that
thofe who live on one Side never lofe
the fight of us, and thofe on the other ,
never enjoy it. Except only fomefew
who live on the Confines of each of
thefe, who lofe us, and fee us again by
turns. The Earth to them muft feem TheAnr^
much larger than the Moon doth to nomy of
us, as being in Diameter above four ^ lnhaz
times bigger. But that which is moft* Mom
furprizing, is, that Night and Day
they fee it always in the very fame
part of the Heaven, as if it never
moved : fome of them as if ’twas fal¬
ling

Book2, ling upon their Heads : others fome-
what above the Horizon, and others
always in the Horizon, hill turning
upon it felf, and prefenting them eve¬
ry twenty four Hours with a View of
all its Countries, even of thofe that lie
near the Poles (I could wifh my felf
in the Moon only for the fight of them)
yet unknown and undifcovered by us*
They have it in its monthly Wane
and Increafe,they fee it half, and horn¬
ed, and full, by turns, juft as we do
the Body of the Moon. But the Light
that they receive of us is five times
larger than what we receive from them.
So that in dark Nights that part that
hath the Advantage of being towards
us, receives a very glorious Light from
us, tho’ Kjpler thought otherwife*
Their Days are always of the fame
Length with their Nights ; and the
Sun riling and fetting to them but once
in one of our Months, makes the time
both of their Light and Darknefs to be
equal to 1 5 of our Days. If their Bodies
were of the fame Materials with ours,
thofe that have the Sun pretty high in
their Horizon, would be almoft roaft-

ConjcBures concerning

the Planetary Worlds. t 37

ed in fuch long Days. For the Sun is Books*
not farther from them than he is from
us. This will be the Cafe of thofe that
live upon the Borders of the two He-
mifpheres we mentioned ^ but thofe
that live under the Poles of the Moon
will be juft about as hot as our Whale-
fiflhers about Ijland and Nova Zjtnla
are, in the Summer-time i who are in
fo little danger of being roafted, that
in the middle of their Summer, in their
Days of three Months length, they ve¬
ry often find it extreme Cold. I call
thofe the Poles of the Moon, round
which the fix’d Stars feem to turn to
its Inhabitants, which are different
from ours, and alfo from thofe of the
Ecliptick, although they move round
thefe latter, at the diftance of five De¬
grees, in a period of nineteen Years.

Their Year they count by the Motion
of the Stars, and their return to the
Sun, and kis the fame with ours.

They can eafily do it, becaufe they
have the Stars Day and Night, not-
withftanding the Light of the Sun :
for they have no Atmofphere (which
is the only reafon that we don’t every

Day

1 3 $ Conje&ures concerning

Books. Day enjoy the fame Sight) to hinder
their Obfervations. Nor have they
any Clouds to obftruft their View, fo
that it is ealier for them to find out
the Courfes of the Planets, but more
difficult to make a true Syftem of
them. For they will be apt to lay a
Wrong Foundation, by fuppofing that
their Earth Hands Hill, which will lead
them into more dangerous Errors than
This may ever it did us. All that I have faid
i‘a£j’le‘ed belongs as well to Jupiter's and Sa-
Moon$ a- turn's Satellites as to our Moon, in re-
hoat Jupi— fpe£f of the Planets they move round.-
satum. The Length of their Day and Night is
always equal to the Time of their Re¬
volution : For example, the fifth Moon
moves round Saturn in 80 Days, and
the Days and Nights there are equal to
Forty of ours. Both their Summer
and Winter (Saturn moving round the
Sun in thirty Years) are fifteen Years
long. Therefore it is impoffible but
that their way of living mult be very
different from ours, having fuch tedi¬
ous Winters, and fuch long watching
and fleeping times.

Having

the Planetary Worlds . *35^

Having thus explain’d the primary Book^.
and fecondary Planets round the Sun,
we fliould next let about the third Sort,
the Sun and fix’d Stars ; but before we
do that, it would be worth while to fee
before you at once, in a clearer and
more plain Method than hitherto, the
Magnificence and Fabrick of the Solar
Syftem. Which we can’t poffibly
do in fo final! a Space as one of our
Leaves will but admit of, becaufe the
Bodies of the Planets are fo prodigious¬
ly fmall in companion of their Orbs*

But what is wanting in Figure fhall be
made up in Words. Going back then
to the firft Scheme, fuppofe another
like it, and proportionable, drawn up- Fig. to
on a very large finooth Plain ; whofe
outermoft Circle reprefenting the Orb
of Saturn 9 mu ft be conceived three
hundred and fixtv Foot in Semidiame¬
ter. In which you rtiuft place the
Globe and Ring of Saturn of that
Bignefs as the 2d Figure (hows you. ^
Let all the other Planets be fuppofed
every one in his own Orbit, and in
the middle of all the Sun, of the fame
Bignefs that That Figure reprefents*

K namely^

1 4.0 Conjectures concerning

Books, namely, about four Inches in Diame-
usy'S* ter. And then the Orbit or Circle in
which the Earth moves, which the
Aftronomers call the Magnus Orbis ,
mu ft have about fix and thirty Foot in
Semidiameter. In which the Earth
muft be conceived moving, not bigger
than a grain of Millet* and her Com¬
panion the Moon fcarcely perceivable,
moving round her in a Circle a little
more than two Inches Diameter, as in
the Figure here adjoined, where the
Line A B reprefents a fmall portion of
that Circle which the Earth moves in 5
the fmall Circle therein Cis the Earth,
and the Circle DE the Path of the
Moon round it, in which the Body of
the Moon is D.

The outermoft of Saturn's Moons
moves in an Orbit whofe Semidiame¬
ter is 29 Inches *5 that of Jupiter in a
fomewhat fmaller, whofe Semidiame¬
ter is 19 and a quarter.

And thus we have a true and exa£l
Defcription of the Sim’s Palace, where
the Earth will be Twelve thoufand of
its Semidiameters diftant from him,
which in German Miles makes above

feven-

the Planet arj IV orlds. i 4 1

feventeen Millions. But perhaps we Books*
may have a clearer Coffiprehenfion of
this vaft Length, by comparing it with
foixie very fwift Motion after the Ex¬
ample ofHe/IodtliQ Poet, who imagin’d
that an Anvil let fall from the Top of
Heaven, reach’d the Earth the tenth
Day of its journey, and in ten more ar¬
riv’d at the Bottom of Hell, the end of
it: fo making the Earth the mid-way
between Heaven and Hell. I (han’t
make ufe of the Anvil, but of fome-
thing as good, namely, a Bullet (hot out
of a great Gun, which may travel per¬
haps in a Moment, or Pulfe of an Ar¬
tery, about a hundred Fathom, as fs
proved by thole Experiments that
Merfennus in a Treatife of his relates •
by which the Sound was found to ex¬
tend itfelf eighty hundredth parts in the
fame time. I fay then, that fuppofing^ ima
a Bullet to move with this Swiftnefs menfe dP
from the Earth to the Sun, it would
fpend 25 Years in its Paffage. To make Sun and
a Journey from Jupiter to the Sun, PilTetsiy
would require 1 2 5 5 and from Saturn u rau ’
thither 250 Years. This account de*
pends upon the meafure of the Earth’s

K 2 Dk-

142. Conjectures concerning

Book2. Diameter, which, according to the ac-
curate Obfervarions of the French, is
6 538 5 94 times fix Paris Feet, one De¬
gree being 57060 of that Meafure.
This fhows us how vaft thole Orbs
muft be, and how inconfiderable this
Earth, the Theatre upon which all out-
mighty Defigns, all our Navigations,
and all our Wars are tranfa&ed, is
when compared to them. A very fit
Confideration, and Matter of Reflecti¬
on, for thofe Kings and Princes who
facrilice the Lives of fo many People,
only to flatter their Ambition in being
Matters of fome pitiful Corner of this
fmall Spot. But to return to the
matter in hand, now we have given
you an account of the Sun’s proportion
to thofe Orbs and Bodies, we’ll fee
what more we can fay of him.

No ground And fome have thought it not im-
fircmje- probable but that the Sun himfelf has
Sun. alio his Inhabitants. But upon what
reafon I cannot imagine, there being
lefs ground for a Probability in him
than in the Moon. For we are not yet
fure, whether he be a folid or liquid
Globe } aitho’, if my Notion of Light

the Planetary Worlds. 143

be true, upon that account I fhould ra- Books®
ther think him liquid : which his
Roundnefsand equal diftribution of his
Light to all parts are an Argument for.

For that very fmall inequality on his
Surface, which is difcovered by the Te-
iefcopes, (and that not always neither)
which makes Men fancy they fee boil¬
ing Seas and belching Mountains of
Fire, is nothing but the trembling Mo¬
tion of the Vapours our Atmofphere is
full of near the Earth ; which is like wife
the Caufe of the Stars twinkling. Nor The Facu-
could I ever have the Luck to difcern la£ in the
thofe bright Spots in the Sun which
they boaft as much of as they do of his
dark ones, which latter I have very of¬
ten feen ; fo that I have very good Rea-
fon to doubt whether there be any
thing in the Sun brighter than the Sun
stfelf. For by the mod exafl: Obfer va¬
rious, I could never find any fuch pre¬
tended to be feen any where but juft a-
bout his dark Spots ; and it is no great
wonder that thofe Parts which are fo
near the darker, fhould appear fome-
what brighter than the reft. That the By reaim
Sun is extremely hot and fiery, is be-

K j yond

tants like
ours can

Sun,

144 Conjectures concerning

Book2.yond all difpute, and fuch Bodies as
ours could not live one Moment in fuch
a Furnace. We mud fuppofe a new fort
hve m the of Animals then, fuch as we have no
Idea or Likenefs of among us, fuch as
we can neither imagine nor conceive :
which is as much as to fay, that we can
make no Suppofition at all about them.
No doubt that glorious and vaft Body
was made for fome noble End and Ufe,
and fram’d with excellent Defign. And
I think we all very well know and feel
its Ufefulnefs in that effufion of Light
and Heat to all the Planets round it ^
in the Prefer v a tion and Happinefsofall
living Creatures, and that not only in
our Ball, but in thofe vaft Globes of
Jupiter and Saturn, not contemptible
when compared with its own. Thefe
are fuch great, fuch wife Ends, that it
is not ftrangethat the Sun fhould have
been made, if it had been only upon
their account. For, as for Kjpler7 s Fan¬
cy, that he hath another Office, namely,
to help on the Motion of the Planets
in their own Orbs, by turning about
his own Axis (which he would fain
eftablifh in his Epitome of the Coper-

mean

the Planetary W or Ids. 145*

^/V^Syftem) I (hall give good Rea^Book2<?
fons why I cannot affent to it

Before the Invention of Telefcopes, V36 Hd
it feerned to contradict ( LOpemJCUS S many
Opinion, to make the Sun one of the Sum-
fix’d Stars. For the Stars of the firft
Magnitude being efteem’d to be about
three Minutes Diameter ; and Coper*
nicus (obferving that tho4 the Earth
changed its Place, they always kept the
fame diftance from us) having ven¬
tur’d co fay that the Magnus Orbis was
but a Point in refpecf of the Sphere in
which they were placed, it was a plain
Confequence that every one of them
that appeared any thing bright, mull
be larger than the Path or Orbit of the
Earth : which is very abfurd. This is
the principal Argument that Tycho
Brahe let up againft Copernicus . But
when the Telefcopes took away thofe
Rays of the Stars which appear when
we look upon them with our naked
Eye, (which they do beft when theEye-
glafs is black’d with Smoke) they feem-
ed juft like little (Fining Points, and then
that Difficulty vanifhed, and the Stars
may yet be fo many Suns. Which is

K 4 the

1 46

Books.

They are
not dll in
the fame
Sphere*

Conjectures concerning

the more probable, becaufe their Light
is certainly their own : for it’s impoffi-
ble that ever the Sun fhould fend, or
they reflect it at fuch a vaft Diftance,
This is the Opinion that commonly
goes along with Copernicus Syfterm
And the Patrons of it do alfo with rea-
fon fuppofe, that all thefe Stars are not
in the fame Sphere, as well becaufe
there’s no Argument for it, as that the
Sun, which is one of them, cannot be
brought to this Rule. But it’s more
likely they are fcatterM and difpers’d
all over the immenfe Spaces of the
Heaven, and are as far diftant perhaps
from one another, as the neareft of
them are from the Sun*

Here again too I know Kjfler is of
another Opinion in his Epitome of Co~
fernicuFs Syftem, that we mention’d
above. For tho5 he agrees with uss
that the Stars are diffus’d through all
the vaft Expanfe of the Heavens, yet
lie cannot allow that they have as large
an empty Space about them as our Sun
has. For then ftwas his Opinion, we
fhould fee but very few, and thofe of
Yery different Magnitudes : Farr fee¬
ing

the Planetary Worlds. 147

ingthe large ft of all appear fo j mall to Book2«
us9 that we can fcarce obferve or me a-
jure them with our heft Inftruments •
how muft thofe appear that are three
or four times farther from us f Why 9
fuppofing them no larger than thefe,they
muft feem three or four times lefts , and
jo on 5 till a little farther they will not
be to be feen at all : Thus we fhall
have the fight of but very few Stars y
and thofe very different one from ano-
nother y Whereas we have above a
Thoufand, and thofe not confiderably
bigger or lefs than one another* But
this by no means proves what he would
have it; and his Miftake was chiefly,
that he did notconfider the Nature of
Fire and Flame which may be feen at
fuch distances, and at fuc-h final] Angles
as all other Bodies would totally difap-
pear under. A thing that we need go
no farther than the Lamps fet along
the Streets to prove. For altho* they
are a hundred Foot from one another,
yet you may count Twenty of them in
a continued Row with your Eyes, and
yet the twentieth Part of them fcarce
makes an Angle of fix Seconds* Cer¬
tainly

1 48 Conjetfures concerning

Book 2 • tainly then the glorious Light of the
V*Y*\J Stars mu ft do much more than this j
fo that it’s no wonder we fhould fee a
Thoufand or two of them with our
bare Eyes, and with a Telefcope dis¬
cover twenty times that number. But
Kfpler had a private Deiign in making
the Sun thus fuperiour to all the other
Stars, and planting it in the Middle of
the World, attended with the Planets:
For his Aim was hereby to ftrengthen
his Cofmographical Myftery, that the
Diftances of the Planets from the Sun
are in a certain proportion to the Dia¬
meters of the Spheres that are infcri-
bed within, and circumfcribed about
Euclid'3 s Regular Bodies. Which
could never be fo much as probable,
except there were but one Chorus of
Planets moving round the Sun, and
fo the Sun were the only one of his
kind.

But that whole Myftery is nothing
' but an idle Dream taken from Pytha¬
goras or Plata7 s Philofophy. And the
Author himfelf acknowledges that the
Proportions do not agree fo well as
they fhould, and is fain to invent two

or

the Planetary Worlds. 149

or three very filly Excufes for it. And Books®
he ufes yet poorer Arguments to prove virv
that the Univerfe is of a fpherical Fi¬
gure, and that the Number of the Stars
mult necelTarily be finite, becaufe the
Magnitude of each of them is fo. But
what is worft of all is, that he fettles
the Space between the Sun and the
Concavity of the Sphere of the fix’d
Stars, to be fix hundred thoufand of
the Earth’s Diameters. For this rea-
fon, which he has no Foundation for,
that as the Diameter of the Sun is to
that of the Orbit of Saturn , which he
makes to be as i to 2000, fo is this Dia¬
meter to that of the Sphere of the fix¬
ed Stars® I cannot but wonder how
fuch things as thefe could fall from fo
ingenious a Man, and fo great an A-
ftronomer. But I muft be of the fame
Opinion with all the greateft Philofo-
phers of our Age, that the Sun is of the
fame Nature with the fix’d Stars. And
this will give us a greater Idea of the
World, than all thofe other Opinions*

For then why may not every one ofT^ stars
thefe Stars or Suns have as great a Re-
tinue as our Sun, of Planets, with their them like

Moons, mr Sm'

ijo Conjectures concerning

Book2. Moons, to wait upon them ? Nay,

yvw there’s a manifeft reafon why they
fhould. For if we imagine our felves
placed at an equal distance from the
Sun and fix’d Stars ; we fhould then
perceive no difference between them.
For, as for all the Planets that we now
fee attend the Sun, we fhould not have
the leaft glimpfe of them, either
becaufe their Light would be too
weak to affect us5 or that all the Orbs
in which they move would make up
one lucid Point with the Sun. fn this
Station we fhould have no occafion to
imagine any difference between the
Stars, and fhould make no doubt if we
had but the Sight, and knew the Na¬
ture of one of them, to make that the
Standard of all the reft. We are then
plac’d near one of them, namely, our
Sun, and fo near as to difcover fix other
Globes moving round him, fome of
them having others performing them
the fame Office. Why then may not
we make ufe of the fame Judgment
that we would in that cafe \ and con¬
clude, that our Star has no better at¬
tendance than the others ? So that

what

the Planetary Worlds. t jt

what we allowed the Planets, upon Books®
the account of our enjoying it, we mu ft i^VNi
likewife grant to all thofe Planets that
furround that prodigious number of
Suns. They mull have their Plants and
Animals, nay and their rational Crea¬
tures too, and thofe as great Admirers.,
and as diligent Obfervers of the Hea¬
vens as our feives^and mu ft confequent-
ly enjoy whatfoever is fubfervient to,
and requifite for fuch Knowledge.

What a wonderful and amazing
Scheme have we here of the magnifi¬
cent Vaftnefs of the Univerfe ! So ma¬
ny Suns, fo many Earths, and every
one of them flock’d with fo many
Herbs, Trees, and Animals, and a-
dom’d with fo many Seas and Moun¬
tains! And how muft our Wonder and
Admiration be encreafed when we
confider the prodigious Diflance and
Multitude of the Stars?

That their Diflance is fo immenfe,
that the Space between the Earth and
Sun (which is no lefs than Twelve
thoufand of the Earth’s Diameters)
is aimed nothing when compar’d to
it, has more Proofs than one to con¬
firm

Conjectures concerning

Book2. firm it. And this among the reft, If
you obferve two Stars near one ano~
ther, as for example thofe in the mid¬
dle of the Great Bears Tail, differing
very much from one another in Clear-
nefs, notwithftanding our changing our
Pofition in our Annual Orbit round
the Sun, and that there would be a
Parallax were the Star which is bright-
er nearer to us than the other, as is
very probable it is, yet whatever Part
of the Year you look upon them, they
will not in the leaft have altered their
diftance* Thofe that have hitherto
undertook to calculate their Diftance,
have not been able perfectly to com-
pafs their Defign, by reafon of the ex¬
treme Nicenefs and almoft Impoflibi-
lity of the Obfervations requifite for
their Purpofe. The only Method that
I lee remaining, to come at any tolera¬
ble Probability in fo difficult a Cafe, I
fhall here make ufe of. Seeing then
that the Stars, as I faid before, are fo
many Suns, if we do but fuppofe one
of them equal to ours, it will follow
that its diltance from us is as much
greater than that of the Sun, as its ap¬
parent

the Planetary IVi jrlds. i f 3

parent Diameter is lefs than the Dia- Books*
meter of the Sum But the Stars* even
thofe of the firft Magnitude, though
view’d through a Telefcope, are fo
very fmall, that they feem only like fo
many fhining Points* without any per¬
ceivable Breadth. So that fuch Obfer-
vations can here do us no good. When
I faw this would not fucceed, I ftudied ^
by what way I could fo leffen the Dia-^^
meter of the Sun* as to make it not guefsm
appear larger than the Dog, or any „
other of the chief Stars. To this pur - thTsZm
pofe I clos'd one End of my twelve-
foot Tube with a very thin Plate* in
the Middle of which I made a Hole not
exceeding the twelfth Part of a Line*
that is the hundred and forty fourth
Part of an inch. That End I turn’d
to the Sun, placing my Eye at the
other, and I could fee fo much of the
Sun as was in Diameter about the 182c!
part of the Whole,' But ftill that lit¬
tle piece of him was brighter much
than the Dog-ftar is in the cleared
Night. I faw that this would not do,
butthatlmuft leffen the Diameter of
the Sun a great deal more. I made

then

/

i54

Conje&ures concerning

Book2. then fuch another Hole in a Plate, and
^Y'Vagainft it I plac’d a little round Glafs
that I had made ufe of in my Microf-
copes, of much about the fame Dia¬
meter with the former Hole. Then
looking again towards the Sun (taking
care that no Light might come near
my Eye to hinder my Gbfervation) I
found it appeared of much the fame
Clearnefs with Sirius . But calling up
my account, according to the Rules of
Diopt ricks , I found his Diameter now
was but tf 2 part of that hundred and
eighty fecond part of his whole Dia¬
meter that i faw through the former
Hole. Multiplying ,1, and t{-2 into
one another, the Produd I found to
be 2 76V*. The Sun therefore being
contracted into fuch a Compafs, or be¬
ing removed fo far from us (for it’s the
fame thing) as to make his Diameter
but the 27664 part of that we every
Day fee, will fend us juft the fame
Light as the Dog-ftar now doth. And
his diftahee then from us will be to
his prefent diftance undoubtedly as
27664 is to 1 5 and his Diameter lit¬
tle above four Thirds, 4 '. Seeing

then

the Planetary W oriels. iff

then Sirius is fuppofed equal to the Books®
Sun, it follows that his Diameter is
likewife 4^ ar*d that his Diftance to
the Diftance of the Sun from us is as
27664 to 1. And what an incredible
Diftance that is, will appear by the
fame way of reafoning that we ufed in
meafuring that of the Sun. For if
25 Years are required for a Bullet out
of a Cannon, with its utmoft Swift-
nefs, to travel from the Sun to us ;
then by multiplying the Number
27664 into 25, we (hall find that fuch
a Bullet would fpendalmoft feven hun¬
dred thoufand Years in its Journey be¬
tween us and the neareft of the fix’d
Stars. And yet when in a clear Night
we look upon them, we cannot think
them above fome few Miles over our
Heads. What I have here enquir’d
into, is concerning the neareft of them.

And what a prodigious Number muft
there be befides of thofe which are
placed in the vaft Spaces of Heaven,
as to be as remote from thefe as thefe
are from the Sun ! For if with our
bare Eyes we can obferve above a
Thoufand, and with a Telefcope can

L difeover

1 5 6 ComeSures concerning

Books, difeover ten or twenty times as many ;
what bounds of Number can we let
to thofe which are out of the Reach
even of thefe AfliftancesI efpecially
if we confider the infinite Power of
God. Really, when I have been
reflecting thus with my fe!f, me-
thoughts all our Arithmetick was no¬
thing, and we are vers’d but in the ve¬
ry Rudiments of Numbers, in compa¬
nion of this great Sum. For this re¬
quires an immenfe Treafury, not of
twenty or thirty Figures only, in our
decuple Progreffion, but of as many
as there are Grains of Sand upon the
Shore. And yet who can fay, that
even this Number exceeds that of the
Fix’d Stars? Some of the Ancients, and
Jordanw Brunm carry’d it further, in
declaring the Number infinite : he
would perfwade us that he has prov’d
it by many Arguments, tho’ in my opi¬
nion they are none of them conclufive®
Not that I think the contrary can ever
/ be made out. Indeed it feems to me
certain, that the Univerfe is infinitely
extended but what God has been
pleas’d to place beyond the Region of

the

the Planetary Worlds. 1 5* 7

die Stars, is as much above our Know- Book2.
ledge, as it is beyond our Habitation.

Or what if beyond fuch a determi¬
nate Space he has left an infinite Va¬
cuum ; to flhow, how inconfiderable
all that he has made is, to what his
Power could, had he fo pleas’d, have
produced > But I am falling, before I
am aware, into that intricate Difpute
of Infinity : Therefore I fliall wave
this, and not, as foon as I am free of
one, take upon me another difficult
Task. All that I fhall do more is to
add fo me what of my Opinion concern¬
ing the whole World* as it is a Place for
the Reception of the Suns or fix’d Stars*
every one of which, I have fhowed,
may have their Planetary Sy Items a~
bout them.

I am of Opinion then that every Sun Every sun
is furrounded with a Whirl-pool or has a Vor~
Vortex of Matter in a very fwift Mo- vZy*
tion * tho’ not in the leaft like Cartes* s different
either in their Bulk, or manner of Mo- ^cartes!*
tion. For Cartes makes his fo large*
as every one of them to touch all the
others round them, in a flat Surface,
juft as you have feen the Bladders that

L 2 Boys

158 Conjectures concerning

Books, Boys blow up in Soap-fads do; and
would have the whole Vortex to move
round the fame way. But the An¬
gles of every Vortex will be no final!
hindrance to fuch a Motion. Then
the whole Matter moving round at
once, upon the Axis as it were of a
Cylinder, did not a little puzzle him
in giving Reafons for the Roundnefs
of the Sun : which however they may
fatisfy fpme People that do not confider
them, really prove nothing of the
Matter. In this sethereal Matter the
Planetsfloat, and are carried round by
its Motion : and the thing that keeps
them in their own Orbs is, that they
themfelves, and the Matter in which
they fwim, equally ftrive to fly off
from the Center of this Motion. A-
gainftali which there are many Aft.ro-
nomical Objections, fome of which I
touch’d upon in my Effay of the Cau-
fes of Gravity. Where I gave another
Account of the Planets not defert-
ing their own Orbs ^ which is their
Gravitation towards the Sun. 1
Ihow’d there the Caufes of that Gra¬
vitation, and cannot but wonder, that

Cartes3

the Planetary Worlds. i

Cartes , the firft Man that ever began Book 2*
to talk reafonably of that Matter, v-OTw'
fhould never meddle with, or light
on it. Plutarch in his Book of the
Moon above-mentioned fays5 that
fome of the Ancients were of Opinion,
that the Reafon of the Moon’s keep¬
ing her Orbit was, that the Force of
her Circular Motion was exactly equal
to her Gravity, the one of which
pull’d her to, as much as the other
forc’d off from the Centre. And in
our Age Alphonfus Borelhs , who was
of this fame Opinion in the other Pla¬
nets as well as the Moon, makes the
Gravitation of the primary Planets to
be towards the Sun, as that of the
Secondary is towards the Planets
round which they move : Which
Sir Jfaac Newton has more fully ex»
plain’d, with a great deal of Pains
and Subtilty ; and how from that
Caufe proceeds the Ellipticity of the
Orbs of the Planets, found out by
Kfpler , According to my Notion
of the Gravitation of the Planets to
the Sun, the Matter of his Vortex
muff not at all move the fame

way,

%6q Conjciiures concerning

Books, way, but after fitch a manner as to
yrv%^have its Parts carry’d different ways
on all Sides. And yet there is no fear
of its being deftroyed by inch an irre¬
gular Motion, becaufe the iEther
round it, which is at reft, keeps the
Parts of it from flying out. With the
Help of fuch a Vortex a's this I have
undertook in that Effay to explain
the Gravity of Bodies on this Earth,
and all the Effefts of it. And I fup-
pofe there may be the fame Caufe
as well of the Gravitation of the
Planets, and of our Earth among the
reft, towards the Sun, as of their
Roundnefs : A Thing fo very hard
to give an Account [of in Cartes1 s
Syftem.

I mull differ from him too in the
Bignds of the Vortices, for I cannot
allow them to be fo large as he would
make them. I would have them dil-
perfed all about the immenfe Space,
like fo many little Whirl- pools of Wa¬
ter, that one makes by the ftirring of
a Stick in any large Fond or River, a
great way diftant from one another.
And as their Motions do not all in¬
termix

the Planetary Worlds, 1 6 z

termix or communicate with one a- Books*
nother, fo in my Opinion muft the
Vortices of Stars be placed as not to
hinder one anothers free Circumrota-
tions.

So that we may be fecure, and never
fear that they will fwallow up or de«
ftroy one another for that was a
mere Fancy of Cartes’* s, when he was
a fhowing how a fix'd Star or Sun.
might be turn'd into a Planet, And
"tis plain that when he writ it, he had
no Thoughts of the immenfe Diftance
of the Stars from one another \ parti-
cularly, by this one Thing, that he
would have a Comet as foon as ever
it comes into our Vortex, to be feen
by us. Which is as abfurd as can be®

For how could a Star, which gives us
fuch a vaft Light only from the Re¬
flection of the Beams of the Sun, as
he himfelf owns they do ; how I fay
could that be fo plainly feen at a db
ftance Ten thoufand times larger than
the Diameter of the Earth's Orbit ?

He could not but know that all round
the Sun there is a vaft Extenfum ; fo
vaft, that in Copernicus* s Syftem the

magnus

1 6 1 Conjectures concerning

Book2. magnus Orbis is counted but a Point
in companion with it. But indeed all
the whole Story of Comets and Pla¬
nets, and the Produ£tion of the World,
is founded upon fuch poor and trifling
Grounds, that I have often wonder’d
how an ingenious Man could fpendall
that pains in making fuch Fancies hang
together. For my part, I fhall be ve¬
ry well contented, and fhall count I
“ have done a great Matter, if I can but
come to any Knowledge of the Na¬
ture of Things, as they noware, ne¬
ver troubling my felf about their Be¬
ginning, or how they were made,
knowing that to be out of the reach
of human Knowledge, or even Con-
je&ure.

FINIS;

*.

■■ ’

'>*•*•*